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BYGONE  SURREY. 


\      \ 


Bygone  Surrey. 


EDITED    BY 

GEORGE    CEINCH 

AND 

S.    W.    KERSHAW,    M.A.,    F.S.A. 


LONDON : 
SIMPKIN,  MARSHALL,  HAMILTON,  KENT,  &  CO.,  LTD. 

HULL: 
WILLIAM  ANDREWS  &  CO.,  THE  HULL  PRESS. 

1895- 


/ 


Iprefacc, 

T  N  issuing  "  Bygone  Surrey  "  it  is  felt  that  an 
-*-  apology  is  due  for  the  unusually  long  space 
of  time  which  has  elapsed  between  the  first 
announcement  of  the  book  and  the  appearance  of 
the  finished  volume.  The  delay  has  arisen  from 
a  variety  of  causes,  into  which  it  is  needless  to 
enter ;  the  editors,  however,  wish  to  explain  that 
they  are  not  in  any  way  responsible  for  it. 

From  the  first  the  editors  have  received  many 
acts  of  kind  assistance  and  suggestions,  for  which 
they  now  desire  to  express  their  sincerest 
appreciation.  The  contributors,  by  their  special 
and  local  antiquarian  knowledge,  have  long  been 
identified  with  the  county,  and  thanks  are 
particularly  due  to  them  for  their  various  papers 
contained  in  this  volume.  Thanks  are  also  due 
to  Messrs.  W.  Blackwood  and  Sons  for  permission 
to  use  some   of  the   engravings  which   illustrate 


534809 


PREFACE. 

Mr.  Cave-Browne's  valuable  article  on  "  Lambeth 
Palace." 

A  melancholy  interest  attaches  to  the  graceful 
article  on  "  Wanborough,"  contributed  by  the 
late  Lady  West,  which  the  authoress  corrected 
for  the  press  only  a  few  days  before  her  death. 

September,  1894- 


Contente. 


Historic  Surrev.     By  George  Clinch 
A  Glance  at  Primitive  Surrey.     By  Frank  Laaham 
Lambeth  Palace.     By  Rev.  J.  Cave-Browne,  m.a. 
The  Dialect  of  SifRREV.    By  Granville  Leveson -Cower, 
A.NCIENT  Roads  and  Ways.     By  H.  F.   Napper 
FoLK-LoRE  AND  LocAL  CUSTOMS.     By  George  Clinch 
SouTinvARK  IN  THE  Olden  Time.     By  Mrs.  Edmund 
Medi.*:val  Croydon.     By  S.   W.   Kershaw,  f.s  a. 
Wanborough.     By   Lady  West        .... 
Battersea  and  Clapham.     By  Percy  M.   Thornton,  m 
Nonsuch.     By  S.   W.  Kershaw,  f.s. a. 
Notes  on  Guildford.     By  Frank  Lasham 
A  Forgotten  Borough.     By  George  Clinch  . 
Early  Surrey  Industries.     By  George  Clinch     . 
Bygone  Merton.     By  Rev.  E.  A.  Kempson,  m.a. 
Index  


Bogrer 


^) 
6 

10 

43 

77 

97 
114 
139 
163 
170 
18G 
204 
217 
221 
239 
247 


BYGONE     SURREY. 


Ibistoric  Surrey. 

I  /^  By  George  Clinch. 

IN  attempting  to  take  a  rapid  survey  of  the 
history  of  any  locality  we  run  a  great 
danger  of  forgetting  those  earlier  chapters  of 
its  book  of  history  which  are  written  upon  the 
stones  and  rocks  at  our  feet,  and  for  the  tracing 
out  of  which  we  have  neither  documentary  nor 
traditional  guidance.  We  have  no  intention  of 
prefixing  to  this  necessarily  inadequate  account 
of  Bygone  Surrey  any  attempt  at  a  geological 
review,  but  probably  no  one  can  fail  to  see  how 
great  an  influence  must  have  been  exerted  by 
Surrey's  physical  form  and  mineral  products 
upon  the  life  of  man,  "  who  comes,  and  tills  the 
field,  and  lies  beneath." 

Who  that  has  felt  the  fresh  breezes  blow  from 
the  crest  of  the  North  Downs,  and,  looking 
below,  has  seen  the  smiHng,  undulating  country 


2  BYGONE  SURREY. 

stretching  out  before  him  away  to  the  greyish- 
purple  crests  of  the  South  Downs  with  their 
famous  Devil's  Dyke,  Cissbury,  and  Chanctonbury 
heights, — who  that  has  watched  the  rain-clouds 
burst  against  the  noble  crests  of  Leith  Hill,  and 
other  ancient  landmarks,  can  doubt  that  the  same 
feelings  of  awe,  of  tenderness,  and  of  affection, 
which  we  feel  for  this  delightful  county,  must 
have  been  felt,  to  some  extent  at  least,  by  our 
earliest  forefathers  ?  Who  can  doubt  that  the 
eternal  hills,  which  seem  as  if  protecting  the 
quiet  Surrey  villages  nestled  beneath  them,  must 
have  inspired  in  the  mediaeval  mind  sentiments 
of  peace  and  contentment  ?  Surely  the  o'er- 
shadowinof  brow  of  weather-beaten  chalk-down 
must  have  had  some  lesson  of  consolation  and 
companionship  for  the  very  earliest  inhabitants 
of  this  district ;  as  well  as  for  the  pious  visitants 
to  Becket's  shrine,  who,  by  paths  which  were  of 
hoary  antiquity  even  in  their  day,  wended  their 
way  under  cover  of  this  natural  rampart. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  every  important 
building  which  dominates  a  large  area  of  country 
has  a  certain,  and  often  unsuspected,  influence 
upon  the  minds  of  those  who  dwell  around  it 
and  daily  beh(jld  it  in  the  course  of  the  ordinary 


HISTORIC  SURREY.  3 

business  of  life.  If  this  be  true  of  buildings — 
the  work  of  man — how  much  greater  must  be  the 
influence  of  the  glorious  prospects  which  are 
spread  out  ever  before  the  eyes  of  the  shepherds 
and  peasants  of  the  weald  and  downs  of  Surrey ! 

There  is  small  reason  to  wonder  at  the  fine 
patriotic  spirit  which,  like  a  flame,  has  blazed 
forth  on  the  appearance  of  the  warning  beacon 
in  times  of  public  danger  and  of  national 
rejoicing.  The  coming  of  the  great  Armada 
was  flashed  forth  by  signal-fires  from  Surrey's 
hill-tops  ; 

"  And  eastward  straight  from  wild  Blackheath  the  warlike 

errand  went, 
And  roused  in  many  an  ancient  hall  the  gallant  squires 

of  Kent. 
Southward  from  Surrey's  pleasant  hills  flew  those  bright 

couriers  forth ; 
High  on  bleak  Hampstead's  swarthy  moor  they  started 

for  the  north ; 
And  on,  and  on,  without  a  pause,  untired  they  bounded 

still : 
All  night  from  tower  to  tower  they  sprang,  they  sprang 

from  hill  to  hill." 

At  the  time,  too,  when  Victoria's  jubilee  was 
celebrated  throughout  the  land,  the  fires  of  Leith 
Hill  again  blazed  forth  in  token  of  rejoicing. 

Our  forefathers  early  discovered*the  value   of 


4  BYGONE  SURREY. 

these  hill-tops  for  strategic  purposes,  and  a  good 
many  of  the  highest  points  to  this  day  bear 
evidences  of  fortification  in  the  form  of  earth- 
works, more  or  less  extensive  and  well-preserved. 
Surrey  possesses  many  evidences  of  military 
works  of  very  early  date,  and  the  hoary  walls 
of  the  castles  of  Guildford  and  Farnham  speak 
eloquently  of  the  defensive  structures  which  were 
built  during  mediaeval  times. 

One  of  the  chief  features  of  commercial 
importance,  however,  is  to  be  found  in  the  roads, 
which  in  Roman,  and  even  earlier  times,  traversed 
the  area  which  is  now  Surrey.  The  Pilgrims' 
Way,  which  is  probably  a  thoroughfare  of  extreme 
antiquity,  and  other  roads  which  provided  means 
of  communication  between  the  sea-coast  and  the 
interior  of  the  country,  are  more  particularly 
treated  in  another  chapter,  but,  generally  speaking, 
they  may  be  said  to  be  a  very  important  institu- 
tion and  a  clear  indication  of  Surrey's  early 
commercial  development.  Along  these  roads 
travelled  military  as  well  as  commercial  operations. 

Everyone  who  is  in  the  slightest  degree 
acquainted  with  the  interior  and  less  populated 
parts  of  Surrey,  must  have  been  struck  with  the 
remarkably  picturesque  homesteads  and  cottages 


HISTORIC  SURREY.  5 

scattered  all  over  the  county.  Many  of  these 
dwellings  are  of  considerable  antiquity,  and  they 
doubtless  owe  their  appearance  of  welcome  and 
comfort,  in  a  large  degree,  to  their  warmth  of 
tone,  as  well  as  to  those  features  so  pleasantly 
suggestive  of  shelter — a  large  roof  with  ample 
eaves,  and  the  other  indications  of  protection  and 
stability. 

Although  no  very  important  events  in  our 
national  history  have  taken  place  here,  Surrey 
has  often  been  the  scene  of  civil  and  political 
strife.  In  the  days  of  King  John,  the  dis- 
contented and  insurgent  barons  frequently  held 
councils  at  Reigate ;  and,  in  the  time  of  the  civil 
wars  between  Charles  I.  and  his  parliament, 
Kingston  was  repeatedly  visited  by  both  armies, 
and  was  the  scene  of  occasional  skirmishes.  The 
chief  part  of  Surrey's  story,  however,  is  of  a 
pacific  nature.  Her  sons  and  daughters  have 
comprised  some  of  the  foremost  names  in  the 
fields  of  letters,  arts,  sciences,  and  the  peaceful 
occupations  of  agriculture  and  the  industrial  arts. 


a  (Blancc  at  primitive  Surrey?. 

By  Frank  Lashah. 

THE  earliest  type  of  men,  known  to  science 
as  Palaeolithic  (or  old  stone)  of  the  river 
.drift  period,  have  been  found  to  have  existed 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Farnham :  hitherto 
this  early  type  of  men  have  been  only  known 
in  the  portion  of  Surrey  comprised  in  the 
Thames  valley,  but,  in  1887,  after  prolonged 
search,  Palaeolithic  haches,  or  celts,  were  found 
in  situ  in  the  high  level  beds  of  river  gravels 
or  drift,  which  occur  about  364  feet  above  the 
mean  sea  level,  and  are  150  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  present  River  Wey.  These  beds  appear 
to  be  of  great  age,  they  lie  superimposed  upon 
beds  of  greensand,  and  present  all  the  usual 
characteristics  of  drift  gravels  ;  a  few  mammalian 
remains  have  been  found,  but  they  are  not 
plentiful ;  upwards  of  500  implements,  many 
of  them  very  large  and  beautifully  worked,  have 
been  collected  from  these  beds.  Some  of  the 
haches  appear  just  as  left  by  their  ancient  makers. 


A  GLANCE  AT  PRIMITIVE  SURREY.  7 

whilst  others  are  very  ochreous,  rolled,  and 
abraded,  showing  how  great  must  have  been  the 
changes  wrought  in  the  aspect  of  the  country 
since  the  day  when  they  were  first  made.  The 
abraded  specimens  are  generally  found  at  the 
lower  levels.  Collections  of  these  implements 
have  been  made  by  Mr.  H.  A.  Mangles,  of 
Seale,  and  myself.  Mammalian  remains  were 
discovered  in  cutting  the  new  railway  at 
Guildford,  but  nothing  was  then  discovered  that 
had  reference  to  the  "genus  homo."  The 
gravels  of  the  Tillingbourne  have  also  yielded 
similar  remains,  but  no  implements.  A  few 
isolated  Palaeoliths  have  been  found  at  Tilford, 
Peperharrow,  Frimley  (Blackwater  Gravels),  and 
near  Farley  Heath  (lacustrine),  Albury,  and 
Tilford.  A  paper  on  Palaeolithic  Man  in  West 
Surrey  is  printed  in  the  Surrey  Archceological 
Collections  (Vol  xi.,  Part  I.,  pp.  25-29). 

The  descendants  of  these  men  have  left  many 
traces  of  their  existence  in  the  whitened  celts 
and  other  shaped  flints,  representing  the  early 
Neolithic  (or  new  stone)  age,  which  lie  scattered 
over  the  ridges  of  the  Hog's  Back  and  along  the 
chalk  hills  in  many  districts  of  Surrey.  In  the 
museum  at  the  Charterhouse,  Godalming,  there 


8  BYGONE  SURREY. 

is  a  collection  made  from  a  wide  area  around 
Puttenham.  It  is  very  probable  that  the 
county  of  Surrey  in  these  early  days  was  densely 
wooded  and  difficult  of  access,  but  there  would 
seem  to  have  been  a  large  Neolithic  population, 
"flakes"  of  flint,  one  of  the  principal  evidences  of 
man's  handiwork,  being  easily  found  on  the 
surface  of  very  many  fields.  These  Neolithic  folk 
were  more  civilized  than  their  predecessors, 
and  it  is  generally  understood  that  our  present 
race  sprang  from  them.  The  latest  Neolithic 
stage  is  represented  by  the  finely  polished  celts 
of  flint,  arrowheads,  scrapers,  etc.,  which  are 
somewhat  plentiful.  At  Wanborough,  on  the 
Hog's  Back,  evidences  of  the  presence  of  these 
folk,  as  also  of  those  of  the  next,  or  bronze 
epoch,  and  of  the  Romans  and  Saxons,  have  been 
traced.  This  indicates  a  district  of  great  interest 
to  the  antiquary.  Stone  implements  have  also 
been  found  at  or  near  Gruildford,  Tilford,  Fren- 
sham,  St.  Martha's,  Crooksbury,  The  Chantries, 
Godalming,  Scale,  and  other  localities.  Black- 
heath,  a  wild  spot  near  Albury,  now  probably  as 
it  was  in  the  Neolithic  days,  has  yielded  a  large 
number  of  flakes,  which  are  bleached  of  a 
peculiar  whiteness.      At  Ash,  near   Farnham,  a 


A  GLANCE  AT  PRIMITIVE  SURREY.  9 

very  fine  polished  flint  celt  was  discovered,  and 
others  have  been  found  at  Wisley.  Of  the 
Bronze  Age  not  many  implements  have  been 
found.  Wanborough,  Farley  Heath  (Romano- 
British  Camp),  Guildford,  Crooksbury  (near 
Farnham),  Godalming,  Bagshot,  etc.,  have 
yielded  specimens.  The  Thames  valley  has, 
however,  a  good  reputation  with  regard  to 
discoveries  of  bronze  weapons  and  implements. 
Camps  and  tumuli  exist,  but  not  in  any  great 
numbers.  Tumuli  (opened)  are  to  be  seen  at 
Frensham,  Woking,  the  Hog's  Back,  and 
Puttenham. 

General  Pitt  Rivers  opened  two  tumuli  on 
Whitmoor  Common,  near  Guildford,  and  found 
cremated  interments  and  urns.  Romano-British 
camps  exist  at  Anstiebury  (Dorking),  Hascombe, 
Puttenham,  Farley  Heath  (Albury),  and 
Aldershot. 


Xambetb  palace. 

By  Rev.  J.  Cave-Browne,  m.a. 

THERE  are  few  buildings  now  left  in 
London,  or  even  through  the  length 
and  breadth  of  England,  which  are  so  full  of 
history,  so  instinct  with  the  life  of  bygone  ages, 
as  Lambeth  Palace.  Its  river  front  tells  its  tale 
of  Plantagenet,  and  Tudor,  and  Stuart  dynasties. 
It  tells  of  the  keen  struggle  between  the  monks 
of  Christchurch,  Canterbury,  and  their  would-be 
independent  Primate,  Baldwin,  the  Crusader,  and 
Hubert  Walter ;  of  the  imperious  Savoyard, 
Boniface ;  of  the  munificent  Chichele ;  of  the 
proud  and  powerful  Cardinal  Morton ;  of  the 
ill-advised  and  ill-fated  Laud ;  of  the  saintly 
Juxon.  It  is  alive  with  memories  of  feuds 
between  Primate  and  Pontiff;  between  the 
Crown  and  the  Church ;  and  lastly  between 
the  Prelacy  and  the  Parliament — but  never  with 
the  people — each  and  all  have  left  their  impress 
and  their  record  on  the  walls  of  this  goodly, 
though  sombre,  pile  of  buildings. 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  11 

Time  was,  as  its  very  name  indicates,  when 
Lambeth  was  a  "  loam-hythe,"  or  muddy  harbour, 
a  low  swampy  marsh  ;  probably  the  upper  outlet 
of  Canute's  canal.  Even  so  late  as  Elizabeth's 
reign  the  adjacent  ground,  now  a  network  of 
streets  teeming  with  a  busy  population,  was  but 
a  sporting  ground,  rich  in  waterfowl  and  other 
game,  and  indeed  within  the  memory  of  middle- 
aged  manhood,  retaining  the  name  of  "  The 
Marsh,"  and  in  the  centre  of  the  present  West- 
minster Bridge  Road,  the  historic  Marsh-Gate. 

But  to  return  to  the  Palace  itself,  and  to 
the  circumstances  under  which  it  became  the 
official  residence  of  the  "Primate  of  all  England." 
This  seemingly  undesirable  site  originally  be- 
longed to  the  Crown,  and  was  granted  by  the 
Confessor  to  his  sister,  Goda,  and  by  her  to 
the  See  of  Rochester.  A  property  so  remote 
and  so  unproductive  was  of  comparatively  little 
value  to  them ;  so  when  Archbishop  Baldwin 
proposed  to  Gilbert  de  Granville,  then  Bishop  of 
Rochester,  to  exchange  it  for  a  range  of  rich 
pasture  land  near  Darente,  belonging  to  the  See 
of  Canterbury,  the  exchange  was  effected, 
subject  to  the  condition  of  a  yearly  supply  of 
fish,    especially  lampreys,   from  the  Thames,  for 


12  BYGONE  SURREY. 

the  monks  of  St.  Andrew's  at  Rochester,  even 
though  the  Medway  flowed  close  under  their 
own  walls. 

But  a  site  which  was  held  of  so  little  value  by 
the  Rochester  chapter,  possessed  no  ordinary 
attractions  for  Archbishop  Baldwin.  It  would 
bring  him  into  closer  contact  with  the  Court, 
which  had  now  permanently  removed  from 
Winchester  to  Westminster,  and  with  the  King, 
with  whom  he  stood  in  high  favour,  as  already 
"  Chief  Justitiary "  (or  Chief  Justice),  and  ex- 
pectant Chancellor.  Nor  was  it  only,  or 
primarily,  as  a  residence  that  the  Archbishop 
desired  it ;  his  quarrel  with  his  monks,  and  his 
endeavour  to  establish  an  independent  Chapter  of 
secular  canons,  who  should  act  as  his  advisers, 
and  not  as  his  constant  opponents,  had  made  him 
resolve  to  find  some  suitable  locality  for  placing 
them  away  from  the  Metropolitical  city ;  and 
having  failed  to  carry  out  his  plan,  first  at  St. 
Stephen's  Hackington,  and  then  at  Maidstone,  he 
hoped  to  be  more  successful  in  the  more  distant 
corner  of  Lambeth.  But  even  here  the  animosity 
of  his  monks,  and  their  influence  at  Rome, 
thwarted  him  ;  and  filled  with  the  Crusading  zeal 
which  Richard,  who  had  now  come  to  the  throne, 


LAMBETH  PALACE. 


13 


inspired,  he  went  to  the  Holy  Land,  to  die  there, 
— his  Lambeth  schenie  a  failure. 

Etubert  Walter,  who  after  the  short  interval 
of  five  years,  during  which  the  sickly  Reginald  de 
Josceline  filled  the  See,  succeeded  his  chivalrous 
friend  and  patron  Baldwin,  at  once  resolved 
to    carry    out    his    design    of    the    Chapter    at 


LAMBETH   PALACE— GARDEN  VIEW,    PRIOR   TO   1829. 

Lambeth :  but  again  the  influence  of  the  monks  at 
Rome  defeated  his  object.  The  foundation  of  the 
Chapel,  and  probably  of  the  adjacent  tower,  was 
laid,  and  the  walls  were  beginning  to  rise,  when  a 
summary  mandate  for  their  demolition  arrived, 
and  the  monks  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
progress  of  the  work  stopped,  never  again  to  be 


14  BYGONE  SURREY. 

resumed  in  its  original  design.  Lambeth  was 
not  to  have  a  Chapter  ;  but  out  of  that  forbidden 
design  was  to  rise  some  years  after,  under  cir- 
cumstances to  be  described,  what  was  to  prove 
the  historic  home  of  so  many  distinguished 
successors  of  a  Baldwin  and  a  Hubert  Walter. 

Now,  anyone  wishing  to  trace  the  successive 
steps  by  which  this  massive  pile  rose  to  its 
present  noble  proportions,  must  place  himself 
in  the  shrubbery,  under  the  north  side  of  the 
Chapel.  There,  in  the  lower  portion  of  that  wall, 
he  will  see  what,  in  all  probability,  remains  of  the 
earliest  work  of  Hubert  Walter,  if  not  of  Baldwin 
himself  The  eye  of  the  expert  will  detect 
masonry  there  which  belongs  to  the  twelfth 
century,  rising  two  or  three  feet  above  the 
ground  ;  above  this  a  change  in  the  work  marks 
the  hand  of  the  mason  of  the  next  century, 
which  carries  the  mind  on  to  the  next  effort 
to  carry  on  the  design.  This  was  probably 
due  to  Stephen  Langton,  who  is  credited  with 
having  added  some  portion  of  the  building.  His 
may  have  been  the  commencement  of  that  Tower, 
of  which  the  projecting  buttress  or  turret, 
containing  the  spiral  stair,  alone  remains,  leading 
up  to  the  rooms  in  the  Water  Tower,  and  having, 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  15 

at  its  extreme  top,  the  room  wrongly  called 
"  the  Lollards'  Prison,"  of  which  mention  will  be 
made  presently. 

The  next  stage  in  the  rise  of  the  building 
is  far  more  important  and  clearly  defined,  that 
which  is  connected  with  the  name  of  Archbishop 
Boniface,  the  truculent  Savoyard,  whose  ruthless 
attack,  on  the  monks  of  St.  Bartholomew,  in 
Smithfield,  brought  down  upon  him  the  peremp- 
tory mandate  from  Pope  Urban  IV.  to  repair, 
or  build  anew,  the  "  edijicia  "  at  Lambeth,  which 
had  fallen  into  great  disrepair.  In  the  lovely 
lancet  windows  of  the  Chapel  may  be  seen  his 
share  of  the  work,  closely  corresponding,  as  they 
do,  in  date  as  well  as  character,  with  those  in  the 
nave  of  the  Temple  Church.  The  Chapel  was 
clearly  a  superstructure  on  the  earlier  Crypt, 
which,  like  the  lower  portion  of  the  outer  wall 
already  noticed,  formed  the  foundation  of  the 
building  which  Archbishops  Baldwin  or  Hubert 
Walter  had  designed,  but  were  never  permitted 
to  complete.  Ducarel  thinks  that  not  only  the 
Chapel,  but  also  the  foundations  of  the  Great 
Hall,  formed  part  of  the  expiatory  work  of 
Boniface. 

The  west  door  of  the   Chapel,  with   its  deep, 


16  BYGONE  SURREY. 

bold  hood-moulding,  would  suggest  that  his 
building  did  not  extend  further  westward ;  but 
that  that  portion,  of  which  only  the  Turret  stair 
now  remains,  was  the  addition  of  Stephen 
Langton.  And  that  when,  in  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  Chichele  added  his  noble 
Tower,  he  cleared  away  all  the  rest  of  the  then 
existing  building,  retaining  the  massive  Turret 
staircase,  as  being  the  only  means  of  access  to 
the  upper  rooms  of  his  Tower. 

At  the  top  of  this  Turret,  with  its  small  square 
window  and  projecting  fireplace,  is  what  is  com- 
monly called  the  "  Lollards'  Prison."  Its  massive 
double  doors,  with  weighty  chain  and  hasps,  no 
doubt  proclaim  it  to  have  been  designed  for  a 
place  of  confinement ;  but  the  names  and  figures 
on  the  oak  panelling  point  rather  to  the  middle 
of  the  seventeenth  than  to  the  fifteenth  century  ; 
and  there  is,  too,  sad  historical  evidence  that  it 
was  so  used  for  the  Loyalist  prisoners  under 
Cromwell,  while,  as  will  be  more  fully  shown  in 
speaking  of  the  adjoining  Tower,  there  is  none 
that  any  Lollard  was  ever  confined  here. 

The  history  of  the  adjoining  Tower  demands 
fuller  notice.  It  was  undoubtedly  built  by  that 
munificent  Primate,  Chichele.      The  "  Stewards' 


LAMBETH  PALACE. 


17 


Accounts"  [Compotus  Ballivortim),  still  pre- 
served in  the  Muniment  Room,  giving  every 
detail  of  the  cost,  show  that,  between  1424 
and  1441,  he  expended  on  it  £278,  a  sum 
equivalent  to  £5,000  of  our  currency  ;  and,  on  a 
shield  at  the  base  of  the  little  niche  which  remains 
between  the  windows  of  the  second  story  on  the 
river  face,  were  his  arms  impal- 
ing those  of  the  See,  under  the 
figure  of  Thomas  a  Becket. 

Archbishop  Chichele  appears 
in  the  history  of  the  Enghsh 
Church  under  two  very  different 
characters,  whether  he  be  re- 
Qfarded  from  the  Romish  or  the 
Anglican  point  of  view  ;  as  the 
munificent  founder  of  All  Souls' 
College,  Oxford,  or  as  the  re- 
puted persecutor  of  the  Lollards. 
Now  by  a  singular  coincidence 
Lambeth  represents  him  in  both  characters,  as  the 
real  benefactor  by  adding  this  conspicuous  Tower 
to  adorn  this  pile  of  buildings  ;  and  also  as  the 
supposed  scourge  of  the  Lollards,  for  whose  special 
persecution  he  was  in  subsequent  ages  said  to  have 
built  it — a  charge  which  has,  ever  since  the  Revolu- 


NICHE  ON  THE  WALL  OF  THE 
WATER  TOWER,  LAMBETH 


18  BYGONE  SURREY. 

tion,  become  a  stereotyped  idea,  and  is  too  often  still 
perpetuated  by  giving  to  this  Tower  the  name  of 
"  The  Lollards'  Tower."  Now  it  is  impossible  to 
read  the  life  of  Archbishop  Chichele  without 
seeing  that,  while  he  was  not  without  the  then 
dominant  conception  of  religious  duty  in  sup- 
porting what  he  believed  to  be  the  "  True 
Faith,"  even  to  the  extent  of  prosecuting  in  the 
Ecclesiastical  Courts  those  who  were  deemed  to 
be  guilty  of  heresy,  a  spirit  of  persecution,  even 
for  the  truth's  sake,  was  wholly  foreign  to  his 
beneficent  nature.  Many  an  act  of  severity 
against  the  Lollards,  or  Wickliffites,  during  his 
Primacy,  and  performed  in  his  name,  was  but 
the  reluctant  obedience  of  peremptory  orders 
from  Rome.  Burdened,  as  he  was,  with  the 
legacy  of  Arundel's  cruel  enactments,  especially 
that  Papal  Bull  "  De  Heretico  Comburendo,"  and 
with  Cardinal  Beaufort's  overpowering  influence 
at  York,  Chichele  was  scarcely  a  free  agent. 
Many  of  his  acts  were  under  compulsion ;  under 
threat  of  Papal  censure.  His  true  character, 
such  as  was  seen  in  his  private  life,  has  been 
well  described  by  his  own  University,  "that  he 
stood  in  the  sanctuary  of  God  as  a  firm  wall 
that  heresy  could  not  shake,  nor  simony  under- 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  19 

mine,  he  was  the  darHng  of  the  people,  and  the 
fosterparent  of  the  clergy."     Was  this  a  man  likely 
to  turn  what  he  designed  as  his  own  residence  into 
a   prison-house   for    heretics  ?    he,  too,   who  had 
obtained  the  passing  of  what  is  known  as  *'  The 
Whipping  Act,"  an  Act  by  which  he  doubtless 
saved   many  a  life  at  the  expence  of  a  flogging  ? 
Be  it  remembered,  also,  that  the  one  room  which 
was  undoubtedly  used  as  a  prison,  was  not  in  the 
Tower  he   built,  but  at  the  top  of  that  Turret 
stair,   which,  as  we  have  seen,  belonged  to  that 
earlier    building.        Nor    was    the    Tower    ever 
associated    with   the    name    of   Lollards    for    at 
least  three  hundred  years.     Not  an  allusion  to  a 
Lollard   having    having    been    imprisoned    here 
occurs    in   the    voluminous    records    of  old  John 
Foxe,  or  any  contemporary    writer.      When  the 
Fire  of  London  had  swept  away  Old  St.  Paul's 
and  its  surroundings,  and  among  them  the  real 
"  Lollards'    Prison,"    associated    with    the   per- 
secutions of  Bonner  and  his  colleagues,  and  the 
only    seemingly    appropriate    place    for    such    a 
tradition   could  be  found  in  the  suggestive  old 
room   at   the    top    of  the    Turret   stair,    it   was 
easy  to  transfer  the  scene   from   St.    Paul's   to 
Lambeth,    and    there    it    still    clings   with   sad 


20  BYGONE  SURREY. 

pertinacity.  And  there  it  probably  will  cling 
in  spite  of  the  refutation  of  history. 

Among  the  many  calumnies  with  which  the 
fair  fame  of  this  Primate  has  been  assailed,  is  one 
which  the  main  room  of  this  Tower  suggested. 
In  its  centre  stands  a  stout  post,  with  which, 
supported  no  doubt  by  Chichele's  "  Whipping 
Act,"  local  tradition  for  many  years  represented 
as  the  scene  of  many  a  Lollard  whipping.  A 
calumny  as  baseless  as  the  others ;  for  that  post 
was  evidently  an  insertion  of  the  18th  century 
for  the  purpose  of  supporting  the  heavy  beam 
which  spans  the  room. 

Within  the  last  half  century  there  remained 
in  the  north  wall  of  this  room  a  memorial  of  a 
now  lost  feature  of  this  tower,  and  the  one  which 
accounted  for  the  name  by  which  it  was  rightly 
known  for  centuries,  as  Chichele's  "Water- Tower." 
In  that  wall  was  a  doorway,  the  raison  d'etre  of 
which  was  disclosed  by  the  corresponding  marks 
on  the  outer  wall.  Here  may  still  be  traced  the 
outline  of  a  doorway,  and  also  of  a  flight  of  stone 
steps  which  led  down  to  the  river,  for  in  those 
days  the  Thames  flowed  up  a  narrow  inlet  to 
the  very  walls  of  the  Palace. 

Down  those  steps  did  successive  Archbishops 


Lambeth  Palace. 

SHEWING  THE   OLD    ARRANGEMENT  BEFORE 

1829. 


1.  Bed  Room. 

2.  „ 

3 

4.  Library. 

5.  Waiting  Room. 

6.  Dining  Room. 

■  7.  Waiting  Room. 

8.  Kitchen. 

9.  Bed  Room. 

10.  Drawing  Room. 


Scale  of  Feet. 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  21 

daily  pass  to  their  barge,  moored  at  the  foot, 
and  ''  took  water "  on  old  Thames  highway,  or 
crossed  over  to  Westminster.  It  was  down 
these  steps  •  that  the  body  of  Archbishop 
Deane,  in  1503,  was  borne  on  its  way  to  burial 
at  Canterbury.  Here,  too,  passed  Anne  Boleyn 
after  hearinof  her  doom  at  the  mouth  of 
Cranmer  in  the  Crypt :  here,  too,  passed  the 
good  Bishop  Fisher,  and  his  fellow  prisoner, 
the  wise  Sir  Thomas  More,  to  the  Tower,  after 
the  Commission  which  sat  in  the  Great  Hall ;  and 
probably  at  these  stairs  occurred  the  memorable 
interview  between  Cranmer  and  Henry,  when 
the  King  warned  him  of  the  plot  laid  against  him 
by  the  Canterbury  magnates.  Now,  under  the 
repairs  carried  out  a  few  years  since  by  the 
Ecclesiastical  Commissioners,  all  trace  of  this 
historic  feature  of  the  "  Water  Tower "  has 
disappeared  :  the  inner  door  and  its  framework, 
which  the  writer  has  often  seen,  was  cleared  out 
by  some  ignorant  contractor. 

Every  portion  of  this  Tower  proclaims  it  as 
having  been  designed  as  an  official  and  private 
residence.  The  Post-room,  with  its  wide-spanned 
oaken  roof  and  rich  ornamental  carvings  at  every 
junction  of  the  ribs  which  panel  it  off,  formed  a 


22  BYGONE  SURREY. 

fitting  audience  chamber,  while  the  upper  stories 
contained  spacious  private  and  sleeping  apart- 
ments, and  are  now  utilised  by  several  Bishops 
during  their  attendance  in  Parliament. 

In  one  of  the  upper  rooms  is  an  opening  in  the 
floor,  to  which  also  local  tradition  has  attached 
an  awful  meaning.  It  used  to  be  suggested  by 
former  showmen  of  the  Palace,  Was  it  not  for  the 
purpose  of  throwing  down  into  the  river  below 
the  bodies  of  poor  Lollards,  perhaps  sometimes 
alive,  that  so  they  might  be  put  out  of  sight,  and 
out  of  remembrance  ?  No.  Its  object,  run- 
ning through  the  several  storeys,  was  for  a  far 
more  ordinary  use.  It  was  "Guard-robe"  not 
an  "  Oubliette." 

After  this  full  account  of  the  Water  Tower,  it 
is  time  to  pass  on  to  the  smaller  Tower  attached 
to  it  on  the  south  side.  This  was  added  by 
Archbishop  Laud.  Finding,  as  w^e  have  seen,  no 
other  means  of  access  to  the  upper  rooms  of  the 
main  tower,  he  added  this  for  the  sake  of  a  stair- 
case, and  to  obtain  a  few  additional  rooms,  for 
chaplains  and  visitors.  For  the  Tower  which 
Cranmer  had  built  at  the  east  end  of  the  Chapel, 
was  only  for  his  own  use,  and  contained  no 
accommodation     for   any    of  his   dependants    or 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  23 

friends.  By  means  of  the  new  staircase,  easy 
access  was  gained  to  the  rooms  in  the  earher 
Tower. 

We  now  turn  to  the  Tower  at  the  entrance 
gate.  The  casual  passer-by  along  the  Thames 
embankment,  as  he  approaches  Lambeth  Palace, 
may  be  forgiven  if  he  sees  in  that  sombre  pile, 
that  gloomy  brick  gateway,  something  sug- 
gestive of  a  prison.  Yet  was  it  once  the  dwelling 
of  one  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  Archbishops 
of  Canterbury,  Lord  Cardinal  Morton,  erected 
by  him  for  his  own  use.  In  the  square  block  on 
the  left,  the  second  storey,  which  was  reached  by 
a  spiral  stone  stair  through  a  low  door  on  the 
north  face  of  the  building,  was  his  range  of 
private  apartments,  his  sitting  room,  and  in  it,  in 
a  recess  in  the  wall,  now  used  as  a  cupboard,  his 
folding  camp  bed,  screened  out  of  sight  during 
the  day  by  closed  doors.  The  entire  space  of  the 
central  block  formed  his  "  State  Apartment,"  his 
Reception  room,  or  as  we  might  say,  his 
"  Audience  Chamber,"  with  its  floor  rush-strewn, 
and  its  walls  lined  with  plaited  reeds.  Such  was 
the  height  of  social  and  state  luxury,  when 
Cardinal  Morton  raised  that  Tower  about  four 
hundred  years  ago.     On  the  ground  floor,  on  the 


24  BYGONE  SURREY. 

left  hand  under  the  gateway,  were  the  official 
apartments  of  the  See,  the  Registry  of  Pre- 
rogative Court,  etc.,  now  used  as  the  Porter's 
kitchen,  while  the  right  hand  block  of  the 
Tower  presented  another  aspect  of  life  of  those 
days :  here  was  the  Warder's  room,  and  leading 
out  of  it  an  inner  room,  now  a  scullery,  which 
then  served  the  purpose  of  a  place  of  confinement, 
or  prison,  as  the  massive  iron  rings  in  the  wall 
still  testify,  for  the  reception  of  any  heretical 
or  criminous  clerks  of  a  violent  or  dangerous 
character,  while  the  more  peaceful  and  orderly  of 
such  victims  of  suspicion  enjoyed  the  greater 
freedom  of  the  upper  portion  of  this  Tower, 
having  access  to  it  by  a  spiral  stair  behind  the 
warder's  room ;  from  which,  however,  an  iron 
grating,  opening  on  to  the  stair  itself,  enabled  the 
Argus-eyed  watchman  within  to  see  each  detenu, 
as  he  passed  up  or  down.  Such  is  the  gateway 
known  as  Morton's  Tower,  built  in  1480. 

Passing  through  the  inner  arch  of  this 
gateway,  the  first  object  that  attracts  the  eye 
is  the  imposing  building  on  the  right  hand 
commonly  known  as  "Juxon's  Hall,"  and  now 
used  as  the  Public  Library.  Though  at  present 
betraying    signs    of  the  Renaissance    period,   its 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  25 

history  carries  back  the  mind  to  a  far  more 
remote  time.  No  less  weighty  an  authority  than 
Ducarel  suggests  that  it  probably  formed  a  part 
of  the  original  design  of  Hubert  Walter,  or 
even  Baldwin,  for  a  spacious  hall  formed  an 
essential  part  of  the  entourage  of  every  baronial 
or  episcopal  residence  in  days  when  hospitality 
and  charity  were  wont  to  hold  so  prominent  a 
place  in  the  daily  life  of  the  dignitaries  in  the 
State  or  the  Church. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  exact  date  of 
its  original  foundation,  it  clearly  existed  as  early 
as  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
being  mentioned  as  the  "  Aula  Magna "  in 
the  "  Compotus  BaUivorum,"  or  "  Stewards' 
Accounts,"  in  the  days  of  Archbishop  Reynolds, 
and  was  a  few  years  after  repaired,  if  not  rebuilt, 
by  Archbishop  Chichele  at  the  time  when  he  was 
rearing  the  ''  Water  Tower."  Then,  two  centuries 
later,  Archbishop  Parker  "  covered  the  Great 
Hall  with  shingles."  But  the  year  1648,  a  year 
so  fatal  to  all  belonging  to  the  Church  as  well 
as  to  the  Crown,  saw  the  whole  building,  having 
been  assigned  to  the  Boyal  Regicide,  Colonel 
Scott,  razed  to  the  ground,  and  the  rich  time- 
honoured  materials  put  up  to  sale  ! 


26  BYGONE  SURREY. 

One  of  the  many  noble  works  of  restoration 
undertaken  by  the  Hberal  Archbishop  Juxon,  was 
the  rebuilding  of  this  Hall,  at  a  cost  of  above 
£10,000,  representing  a  sum  well-nigh  ten  times 
its  amount  at  the  present  day.  So  earnest  was 
his  desire  to  make  this  as  nearly  as  might  be  a 
"  restoration  "  rising  on  the  old  lines,  and  retaining 
as  closely  as  he  could  its  old  character,  that,  as  an 
historian  of  Surrey  says,  "  Not  all  the  persuasions 
of  men  versed  in  literature,  and  of  his  friends, 
could  induce  him  to  rebuild  it  in  the  modern  way, 
though  it  would  have  cost  less  money."  And  to 
protect  it  against  the  modernising  taste  which 
then  prevailed,  he  made  this  provision  in  his 
will : — *'  If  I  happen  to  die  before  the  Hall  at 
Lambeth  be  finished,  my  executor  to  be  at  the 
charge  of  finishing  it,  according  to  the  model 
made  of  it,  if  my  successor  give  leave."  It  would 
seem  as  if  the  restored  building  was  not  per- 
mitted to  altogether  escape  the  prevailing  fancy 
of  the  day,  for  the  balls  crowning  the  buttresses 
outside  instead  of  the  finials  of  the  earlier 
building,  and  those  on  the  inside  replacing 
the  carved  pendant  of  an  earlier  roof, 
betray  the  hand  of  the  Renaissahce  designer. 
As    does   the    Louvre   rising   from    the    centre. 


\   LAJIBETH    I'ALACK— THE  OKKAT    llAI.l,   (NOW   THE   LIBRARY). 


28  BYGONE  SURREY. 

and  bearing  on  its  vane  the  arms  of  Archbishop 
Juxon. 

This  Hall  is  ninety-three  feet  long  and  thirty- 
eight  broad,  rising  at  the  pitch  of  the  roof  to 
an  elevation  of  above  fifty  feet.  The  roof  itself, 
with  its  massive  oaken  hammer-beams  and 
pendant-posts,  resembling  those  of  Westminster 
Hall,  and  also  what  remains  of  the  Royal  Palace 
at  Eltham,  carries  back  the  mind  to  the  grand 
and  graceful  architecture  of  the  fourteenth  rather 
than  that  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Nor 
have  we  to  go  back  a  hundred  years  for  evidences 
of  that  earlier  life.  Within  the  present  century 
there  stood  along  the  side  walls  the  old  tables 
at  which  the  lavish  hospitality  of  feudal  times 
was  wont  to  be  dispensed ;  where  Robert 
Winchelsea,  after  feasting  his  friends  and 
retainers,  distributed  the  remains  of  the  banquet 
among  the  poor  who  thronged  to  his  gate, 
thus  establishing  the  well-known  '*  Lambeth 
Dole."  Here,  too,  besides  such  more  ordinary 
banquets,  were  held  the  "  Consecration  Banquets," 
at  which  each  newly-consecrated  Prelate  of  the 
Province  of  Canterbury  held  high  feast  among  his 
brother  bishops,  a  custom  which  only  ceased 
half  a  century  ago. 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  29 

This  Hall,  too,  has  often  been  the  witness  of 
very  different  scenes.  Convocation  has  more 
than  once  sat  here.  Councils,  too,  of-  the 
English  Church,  in  the  days  of  Boniface,  and 
Peckham,  and  Simon  de  Meopham  ;  and  be  it 
remembered,  in  later  years,  in  the  more  far- 
reaching  form  of  a  '*  Pan-Anglican  Synod  "  under 
Archbishops  Longley,  and  Tait,  and  Benson. 

But  perhaps  the  most  startling  events  with 
which  this  Hall  is  connected,  are  some  of  the 
Special  Commissions  which  have  sat  in  it.  It  was 
here  that  Cranmer  extorted  from  the  clergy  the 
oath  which  transferred  the  Supremacy  of  the 
Church  from  the  Pope  to  the  King,  in  1534. 
Among  them  stood  the  aged,  saintly  Fisher, 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  who  had  been  confessor  and 
trusted  councillor  to  the  King's  illustrious 
grandmother,  "  the  Lady  Margaret,"  Countess 
of  Beaufort ;  and  by  his  side  "  the  noblest  layman 
England  ever  had,"  so  history  has  pronounced 
him.  Sir  Thomas  More,  the  learned  and  true  : 
both  falling  victims  to  Henry's  tyrannical 
autocracy. 

Such  trials  have  of  late  years  given  place  to  far 
more  peaceful  scenes,  when  Churchmen,  lay  and 
clerical,   so  often   meet  here  to  discuss   subjects 


30  BYGONE  SURREY. 

ecclesiastical  and  philanthropic,  or,    if  needs  be, 
for  judicial  litigation. 

But  it  is  under  its  present  aspect  that 
the  Great  Hall  is  best  known  as  the  "Lambeth 
Library,"  in  which  it  has  associated  with  it 
the  names  of  some  of  the  luminaries  of  their  day. 
It  seems  strange  that,  considering  the  profound 
learning  of  so  many  of  the  preceding  Primates, 
there  should  have  been  no  Public  Library 
attached  to  the  Palace  till  a  comparatively 
recent  period.  To  Bancroft,  in  the  days  of 
Queen  Elizabeth,  it  is  indebted  for  the  first 
contribution  of  a  private  library  to  the  See. 
Even  his  bequest  had  a  narrow  escape  from 
being  otherwise  appropriated  or  scattered  to  the 
winds  under  the  ruthless  hands  of  the  Parlia- 
mentarian spoilers  in  1646,  but  it  was  a  staunch 
Cromwellian  (so  to  say),  no  other  than  John 
Selden,  who  rescued  and  restored  it  to  Lambeth, 
where  it  has  remained  to  form  the  nucleus  of 
the  present  Library.  Other  Primates  had 
accumulated  goodly  stores  of  literary  wealth, 
but  had  bequeathed  them  to  different  colleges  : 
Parker  to  Corpus  Christi,  Cambridge ;  Laud 
divided  his  between  his  own  college,  St.  John's, 
Oxford,  and  the  Bodleian  Library ;    Sancroft  his 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  31 

to  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge  ;  while  that  of 
Wake  passed,  with  his  magnificent  collection  of 
coins,  to  Christ  Church,  Oxford.  Thus  did  the 
Lambeth  Library,  as  Evelyn  has  happily  put  it, 
ebb  and  flow  like  the  Thames,  that  run  beside  it, 
with  every  Prelate. 

Still  the  wealth  and  treasures  of  the  permanent 
library  remain  undiminished,  when  we  think  of 
the  Registers  of  the  Southern  Province,  almost 
without  interruption,  from  the  time  of  Peckham  ; 
its  Miscellaneous  MSS.  too  :  its  rare  collection 
of  printed  books  prior  to  1600,  the  Parliamentary 
Survey  of  Church  lands  during  the  Common- 
wealth :  the  later  "  Notitiae  Parochiales  : "  the 
Biblical  MSS.  bequeathed  by  Archbishop 
Tenison,  and  its  illuminated  Missals,  etc.,  it  may 
truly  claim  high  rank  among  the  libraries  of  the 
world. 

Some  of  its  librarians  also  have  reflected  the 
lustre  of  its  literary  wealth :  Henry  Wharton, 
Edmund  Gibson,  Andrew  Coltee  Ducarel,  Henry 
John  Todd,  Samuel  Roffey  Maitland,  and 
William  Stubbs,  the  present  learned  Bishop  of 
Oxford,  among  them. 

In  a  large  bay  window  on  the  west  side  of  the 
upper   end   of  the   Hall,  are   collected    together 


32  BYGONE  SURREY. 

several  rare  and  valuable  specimens  of  stained 
glass,  chiefly  heraldic,  rescued  from  the  old 
ofalleries  and  corridors,  which  were  removed 
when  Archbishop  Howley,  under  the  able  designs 
of  Mr.  Blore,  erected  the  present  imposing  range 
of  domestic  apartments. 

Opposite  this  window,  is  a  handsome  doorway 
of  Italian  character,  introduced  by  Archbishop 
Juxon,  opening  into  a  spacious  lobby  in  which  a 
staircase  leads  to  what  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  and  historic  portions  of  this  ancient 
pile. 

It  was  commonly  known  as  the  "  Guard- 
Chamber,"  for  such  was  its  original  use,  carrying 
back  the  mind  to  the  days  when  Primates  were 
feudal  Lords,  with  armed  retinues.  Lying 
between  the  public  Banquetting  Hall  and  the 
private  portion  of  the  Palace,  it  tells  of  times 
when  spiritual  lords  might  require  the  protection 
of  temporal  weapons.  The  battle  axes  and  lances 
which  down  to  the  days  of  Laud  might  be  seen 
standing  beside  the  empty  coats  of  mail,  long 
after  the  living  men-at-arms  had  disappeared 
from  the  scene,  have  given  place  to  a  goodly 
array  of  portraits  of  successive  primates  from  that 
period,  and  a  few    of  even   earlier   date.      And 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  33 

while  the  Hne  of  Primates  appears  in  unbroken 
succession  from  Laud  to  Benson,  so  also  is  the 
continuity  of  art  illustrated  on  the  walls  of  this 
old  Guard  Chamber.  Here  are  originals  of 
Holbein  and  Vandyke,  each  with  its  own  history, 
of  Kneller  and  Hogarth,  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 
and  Romney,  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  Sir  Martin 
Shee,  of  Richmond,  and  Herkomer.  While 
in  the  gallery  alongside,  as  also  in  the  private 
rooms,  are  portraits  of  the  leading  contemporaries 
of  these  occupants  of  the  See  of  Canterbury, 
giving  a  still  wider  historical  interest  to  the 
official  home  of  the  "Primates  of  all  England," 

Running  eastward  from  the  group  of  Towers, 
already  described,  stands  the  exquisite  chapel, 
which  perhaps  more  than  any  other  part  of  this 
historic  range  of  buildings,  is  rich  in  the  associa- 
tions of  the  past;  containing  as  it  does  mementoes 
of  the  successive  Primates  over  a  period  of  above 
800  years,  from  the  days  of  the  ruthless  Savoyard 
Boniface,  to  those  of  the  peaceloving  statesman 
Archibald  Campbell  Tait,  and  the  artloving  and 
learned  Edward  White  Benson. 

The  western  doorway,  opening  from  the 
**  Postroom  "  in  the  Water  Tower,  with  its  bold 
deep  hood  moulding,  shows  that  it  was  originally 


34  BYGONE  SURREY. 

exposed  to  the  open  air,  and  standing  on  a  raised 
terrace,  formed  the  main  entrance  to  the  Chapel. 
Its  construction  is  noteworthy.  A  semicircular 
arch  encloses  two  single-cusped  arches,  the  outer 
jambs  consisting  of  four  graceful  columns,  with 
their  capitals,  as  also  their  bases,  composed  of 
solid  blocks  of  purbeck  marble  laid  horizontally, 
forming  a  strikingly  bold  and  yet  elegant  device. 

The  chapel  itself  is  seventy-two  feet  long  and 
twenty-five  broad,  divided  into  four  bays  of 
triplet  lancets  on  either  side,  the  first  bay  is 
partitioned  off  by  a  screen,  and  forms  an  atrium 
or  ante-chapel.  The  east  window  consists  of  five 
graduated  lancets,  each,  like  the  other  windows  of 
the  chapel,  having  light  shafts  of  Purbeck 
marble. 

Under  the  chapel  is  a  crypt  of  the  same  size, 
and  of  much  earlier  date,  being  no  doubt  part  of 
the  original  building  of  Baldwin  or  Hubert 
Walter,  as  is  evident  from  the  bold  groining  of 
the  roof,  and  the  character  of  the  capitals  of  the 
piers  which  support  it.  This  was  no  doubt  of  a 
much  higher  pitch ;  but  the  frequent  filling  in  of 
the  floor  to  raise  it  above  the  level  of  the  river, 
which  was  constantly  flooding  it,  has  in  time 
reduced  it.     In  its  earlier  state  it  doubtless  was 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  35 

used  for  judicial  rather  than  for  rehgious  pur- 
poses ;  and  as  such  must  have  witnessed  some 
stirring  events.  Here  it  was  no  doubt  that  that 
imperious  Primate  Boniface,  in  the  year  1249, 
fulminated  his  ecclesiastical  thunders  against  the 
Prior  and  Monks  of  St.  Bartholomew  the  Great, 
in  Smithfield,  and  the  gentle-born  and  learned 
Fulco  Basset,  Bishop  of  London.  Here,  too, 
probably  was  enacted  that  scene  in  the  year  1378, 
when  the  brave  John  WicklifFe  stood  before 
Archbishop  Sudbury,  arraigned  for  heretical 
teaching,  and  the  rescue  came,  not  as  it  had  done 
at  St.  Paul's,  by  the  commanding  presence  of 
John  of  Gaunt,  but  by  the  rush  of  Lollard 
citizens  who  bore  him  off  in  safety.  Here  again 
in  1536  the  unfortunate  Anne  Boleyn  heard 
Cranmer  pronounce  the  dread  sentence  which 
was  to  consign  her  back  to  the  Tower  and  to  the 
block. 

Upon  this  earlier  base  rose  the  Chapel  in  the 
middle  of  the  13th  century.  The  first  alteration 
made  in  it  was  doubtless  by  Chichele,  when  the 
building  of  his  Water  Tower  required  him  to 
close  up  the  five  lancet  windows,  which,  as  in  the 
east  end,  adorned  the  western  gable.  In  doing 
so  he  evidently  left  in  the  centre  light,  a  hagio- 


36  BYGONE  SURREY. 

scope,  opening  for  the  use  of  the  occupants  of  the 
Tower  rooms.  For  this  was  substituted  by 
Juxon  in  1662  a  small  bay  window,  as  an 
ornament,  the  angel  supporting  it  bearing  a 
shield  on  which  are  the  arms  of  that  Archbishop, 
In  Cardinal  Morton  the  Chapel  had  its  chief  and 
most  gorgeous  beautifier.  He  filled  the  windows 
with  stained  glass,  probably  some  of  the  richest 
which  the  latter  years  of  the  1 5th  century,  so  rich 
in  that  art,  could  produce.  At  every  junction  of 
the  cross-ribs  of  the  panelled  roof  were  painted 
in  bright  colours  his  monogram  or  the  initial  flD. 
And  so  the  Chapel  remained  until  time  and 
neglect  had  reduced  its  beautiful  windows  to 
the  state  described  by  Laud,  as  being  "shameful 
to  look  upon,  all  diversely  patched  like  a 
beggar's  coat."  But  during  that  interval  an 
event  occurred  in  connection  with  this  Chapel 
of  historic  importance.  Archbishop  Parker's 
consecration.  Long  refuted  and  exploded  though 
that  silly  fable  concocted  hy  Romanists,  known 
as  the  "  Nag's  Head  Conspiracy,"  has  been, 
still  an  account  of  this  Chapel  would  be 
incomplete  without  some  reference  to  it.  The 
story  was  briefly  this :  that  Archbishop  Parker 
went  through  a  form  of  consecration  at  a  tavern 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  Si 

ill  Clieapside,  bearing  that  name.  This  maUcious 
falsehood  first  saw  the  light  in  the  pages  of  a 
Jesuit  named  Fitz-Herbert,  in  the  year  1614, 
about  half  a  century  after  the  event,  whereas 
there  were  in  Lambeth  Palace  itself,  and  also  in 
the  library  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge, 
authentic  contemporary  accounts  of  the  whole 
scene,  describing  every  detail  of  place,  and  persons, 
and  costume,  as  unanswerable  evidence  of  its 
truth. 

In  this  Chapel,  on  the  17th  December 
1559,  was  Parker  consecrated  by  four  still 
remaining  Bishops,  Barlow  of  Bath,  Scory  of 
Hereford,  Hodgkins  of  Bedford,  and  Miles 
Coverdale  of  Exeter.  The  very  locality  is 
described,  by  the  Archbishop  himself,  "in  the. 
Chapel  of  my  Manor  of  Lambeth,"  and  he  goes 
on  to  say  that  after  the  close  of  the  sermon  he 
"  passed  through  the  door  on  the  north  side  into 
the  vestry,"  to  be  robed  by  his  Chaplains.  That 
door  is  there,  and  that  room  still  remains,  and  is 
to  this  day  used  as  a  vestry. 

Another  connecting  link  with  the  life  of 
Archbishop  Parker  is  to  be  found  in  this  Chapel. 
It  had  been  his  daily  habit  to  kneel  in  private 
prayer    on    the    south    side    of    the    Communion 


38  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Table,  and  his  desire  was  often  expressed  that  his 
bones  should  find  a  resting-place  there  ;  for  which 
purpose  he  had  his  tomb  erected  during  his  life- 
time. In  that  tomb  his  corpse  was  duly  laid,  and 
there  it  rested  until  the  days  of  the  Common- 
wealth, when  the  Chapel,  falling  into  the  hands  of 
Matthew  Hardy,  was  desecrated  by  feasting  and 
even  dancing.  The  presence  of  that  tomb,  and 
the  consciousness  of  the  corpse  within,  seemed 
revolting  even  to  the  callous  minds  of  the  soldiers, 
so  they  broke  it  open  and  rifled  it,  and  cast  the 
bones  upon  a  dunghill. 

On  the  Restoration,  Archbishop  Juxon  tried 
in  vain  to  trace  them  out,  and  it  was  not  until 
Sancroft  came  to  Lambeth  that  they  were 
recovered.  He  once  more  placed  them  in  the 
Chapel,  in  the  centre  of  the  floor,  with  this  brief 
but  touching  epitaph  : — 

"corpus   MATTHEI  I  ARCHIEPISCOPI  |  TANDBM   HIC   QUIE8CIT." 

Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  state  in  which 
Archbishop  Laud  found  the  Chapel.  He  thus 
describes  it : — "  At  his  coming  to  Lambeth  it  lay 
so  nastily,  and  the  windowes  were  so  peeced  and 
quite  out  of  order  and  reparation,  that  it  grieved 
his  very  heart  to  see  it  in  such  a  condition."  To 
repair  it  was  to  him  a  labour  of  love  ;   though  he 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  39 

little  foresaw  that  that  very  act  would  be 
charged  against  him,  and  help  to  bring  about  his 
downfall.  The  endeavour  to  restore  as  far  as 
he  could  from  the  pictures  of  a  "  Biblia 
Pauperum  "  the  designs  which  Cardinal  Morton 
had  introduced,  aroused  the  fanaticism  of  the  then 
dominant  Puritan  ;  to  revive  the  spirit  of  devotion 
by  means  of  illustrations  of  Scriptural  subjects  was 
deemed  superstition,  and  denounced  as  rank 
Popery.  So  not  content  with  destroying 
Archbishop  Parker's  tomb,  every  window  was 
demolished  and  every  ornament  destroyed. 
Juxon,  in  his  almost  filial  affection  for  Laud,  set 
himself  to  reduce,  so  far  as  his  short  tenure  of  the 
Primacy  admitted,  the  sadly  disordered  and 
dishonoured  condition  of  the  Chapel,  as  he  did 
also  of  the  Great  Hall,  and  restore  it  to  some- 
thing of  its  former  beauty ;  he  filled  in  the 
windows  with  glass,  though  not  so  rich  and  costly 
as  that  which  had  been  destroyed  ;  he  introduced 
oak  stalls,  with  richly  carved  poppy-heads ;  and 
everywhere,  on  the  beams  of  the  roof,  on  the 
stalls,  on  the  screen,  and  over  the  door,  he  placed 
shields,  bearing  the  arms  of  his  beloved  pre- 
decessor either  alone  or  impaling  those  of  the  See. 
In  such  a  state  the  Chapel  had  remained,  with 


40  BYGONE  SURREY. 

only  slight  alterations  and  adornment,  until 
Archbishop  Howley  succeeded  to  the  Primacy  in 
1828.  His  refined  classical  mind  and  open-handed 
liberality  had  found  in  the  Palace  generally  a  grand 
field  for  their  exercise  ;  with  Mr.  Blore,  the  then 
most  highly  esteemed  architect,  he  set  to  work  to 
adapt  this  noble  building  to  modern  requirements, 
while  jealously  retaining  all  that  was  historical. 
Clearing  away  two  inharmonious  and  most  incon- 
venient ranges  of  private  apartments  which 
successive  Archbishops  had  added  on  (one  after 
another),  he  planned  a  residence  which  in  its 
public  and  private  rooms  has  few  equals.  Two 
rooms  only.  Cardinal  Pole's  Gallery,  which  faced 
the  garden,  and  the  quadrangular  Library,  which 
lay  by  the  Guard  Room,  may  possibly  raise  a 
regretful  thought ;  but  even  they,  only  from 
historic  association,  being  without  a  single  feature 
of  architectural  beauty  worth  preserving. 

Nor  did  his  Primacy  close  without  the  Chapel 
experiencing  the  benefit  of  his  presence.  Re- 
moving the  original  flat  ceiling,  he  introduced  a 
groined  arched  roof,  cleared  away  the  high 
panelling  on  the  side  walls,  which  probably 
Archbishop  Seeker  had  introduced,  and  thus 
brought   to    light    the    lower    portions    of    the 


LAMBETH  PALACE.  41 

windows  which  had  been  blocked  up,  and  so 
gave  an  air  of  Hghtness  to  the  whole  building. 
But  it  was  left  to  the  Primacy  of  Archbishop 
W^  Ta^to  carry  still  further  the  work  of  improve- 
ment begun  by  Archbishop  Howley.  The  plain 
glass  in  the  windows  now  gave  place  to  a  series 
of  Scriptural  subjects  in  rich  stained  glass,  from 
the  hands  of  Messrs.  Clayton  and  Bell,  according, 
as  far  as  possible,  with  those  designed  by  Cardinal 
Morton;  these  were  contributed  by  members 
of  the  Archbishop's  family,  and  liberal  friends. 
One  of  them  demands  special  notice.  It  was 
dedicated  to  the  memory  of  Crauford  T^te,  the  ^  ^gvi/t 
Archbishop's  son,  and  was  an  offering  from  the 
American  Bishops  assembled  at  the  Second  Pan- 
Anglican  Synod,  in  touching  remembrance  of  the 
visit  lately  paid  by  him  to  the  Western  branch  of 
the  Anglican  Church.  The  Chapel  has  received 
further  embellishment  from  the  present  Arch- 
bishop, who  has  completed  the  work  of  wall 
decoration,  and  placed  on  the  west  wall  of  the 
Ante-Chapel  the  armorial  bearings  of  those  of  his 
predecessors  whose  names  were  most  conspicuous 
in  the  annals  of  the  country. 

While  the  eyes  of  all  members  of  the  English 
Church   turn    with   loving   reverence  to  the  old 


42  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Palace,  in  which  their  Primates  have  dwelt  for 
some  eight  centuries,  it  is  to  this  Chapel  especially 
they  look  with  veneration.  Here,  for  above  four 
centuries,  nearly  all  consecrations  of  Bishops  of 
the  Southern  Province  were  held.  Here,  too, 
all  the  earlier  Bishops  of  the  Colonial  Church,  of 
India,  Canada,  the  United  States,  West  Indies, 
Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  Africa,  received 
their  commission  to  go  forth  as  "  Bishops  of  the 
Church  of  Christ."  And  their  successors  are  now 
representing  the  Apostolic  Order  and  Evangelic 
Doctrine  of  their  dear  Old  Mother  Church  in  the 
remotest  regions  of  the  world. 


^be  2)ialect  of  Surrey. 

By  Granville  Leveson  Gower,  p.s.a. 

FEW  subjects  are  more  interesting  than  that 
of  local  dialect.  It  may  chance  that,  as 
in  Yorkshire  and  in  parts  of  the  North  of 
England,  it  may  form  a  distinct  language, 
unintelligible  to  any  but  a  native,  or  it  may  be  as 
in  the  South  of  England  that  the  speech  of  the 
common  folk,  while  readily  intelligible,  is  seasoned 
with  a  number  of  dialectal  words,  some  classical, 
some  which  were  current  a  century  or  more  ago ; 
all  expressive  and  all  worth  treasuring  up.  It 
can  hardly  be  said  of  Surrey  that  it  has  any 
dialect  peculiarly  its  own.  It  is  probable  that 
there  is  no  word  in  use  in  the  county  which  is 
not  current  in  Kent  and  Sussex,  while  on  the 
other  hand,  words  are  in  use  in  those  counties 
which  are  not  current  in  Surrey,  and  a  careful 
perusal  of  the  admirable  glossaries  of  the  Rev. 
W.  D.  Parish,  and  of  Dr.  Pegge,  will  establish 
this  fact. 

When  writing,  nearly  twenty  years  ago,  a  paper 


44  BYGONE  HUH  HEY. 

on  Sun^ey  Provincialisms  for  the  English  Dialect 
Society,  I  expressed  a  fear  that,  in  consequence  of 
increased  facilities  of  travel,  and  of  the  spread  of 
education,  these  dialect  words  would  disappear 
and  be  forgotten.  Old  customs,  old  beliefs,  old 
prejudices  die  hard  in  the  soil  of  England,  and  I 
cannot  say  that  in  the  rural  districts  I  notice 
much  difference  in  the  language  ;  and  fresh 
provincialisms  crop  up  from  time  to  time.  I  have 
ever  noticed  that  one  of  the  most  prolific  sources 
of  supply  is  to  be  found  in  the  evidence  given  by 
witnesses  before  a  bench  of  magistrates.  We 
have  seen  before  now  a  judge  puzzled  by  some 
local  phrase  made  use  of  in  evidence.  And  not 
so  long  ago,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  an 
ignorant  display  of  irritation  was  shewn,  owing  to 
a  member  having  employed  the  word  '*  hind  "  to 
designate  an  agricultural  labourer ;  it  was  supposed 
that  some  stigma  attached  to  this  honourable 
appellation. 

In  a  paper  of  this  kind  it  is  impossible  to  do 
more  than  give  instances  culled  from  different 
sources  to  illustrate  the  local  phraseology.  It  is 
unfortunate  that  many  books,  which  purport  to 
deal  with  local  dialect,  mix  up  the  language  of 
different    counties    in    hopeless    confusion ;    the 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  45 

works  of  George  Eliot,  Field  Paths  and  Green 
Lames,  by  the  late  L.  Jennings,  and  that 
incomparable  little  work,  by  the  late  Rev.  J. 
Coker  Egerton,  Sussex  Folk  and  Sussex  Ways,  of 
which  a  reprint  has  happily  recently  been  issued, 
and  Clironicles  of  a  Clay  Farm,  by  Chandos 
Wren  Hoskyns,  these  may  be  relied  upon  as 
absolutely  trustworthy. 

There  are  not  many  proverbs  specially  belong- 
ing to  Surrey.  "A  bright  Candlemas  Day "  is 
taken  to  denote  a  probable  renewal  of  winter,  this 
was  the  account  given  to  me  by  an  old  man  : — 
"  The  old  folks  used  to  say  that  so  far  as  the  sun 
shone  [the  '  o '  in  the  word  pronounced  long]  into 
the  house  on  Candlemas  Day,  so  far  would  the 
snow  drive  in  before  the  winter  was  out."  A  fine 
Easter  Day  is  supposed  to  be  followed  by  "  plenty 
of  grass,  but  little  good  hay  ; "  meaning  that  the 
summer  will  be  wet.  A  fine  bark-harvest,  i.e.,  fine 
weather  for  getting  in  the  bark  after  the  oak 
"flawing"  is  done,  indicates  fine  weather  for 
gathering  in  the  harvest.  **  I  expect,"  said  a 
farmer,  "  we  shall  have  a  shuckish  time  at 
harvest,  we  had  it  so  at  bark-harvest,  and  they 
generally  follow  one  another." 

There  is  a  prejudice  against  thunder  early  in 


46  BYGONE  SURREY. 

the  year,  hence  the  saying  "  Early  thunder,  late 
hunger."  The  black- thorn  winter  or  black- thorn 
*' hatch"  as  it  is  sometinjes  called,  is  always 
spoken  of  to  denote  the  cold  weather  which 
generally  prevails  about  the  time  that  the 
black-thorn  is  in  bloom.  A  backward  spring  is 
thought  to  indicate  a  fruitful  season  ;  the  common 
people  have  this  proverb  : — 

"  When  the  cuckoo  comes  to  a  bare  thorn. 
Then  there's  like  to  be  plenty  of  corn." 

The  point  from  which  the  wind  blows  at  any 
quarter  day,  is  supposed  to  denote  that  it  will 
remain  more  or  less  in  .the  same  quarter  for  the 
ensuing  three  months,  and  the  same  is  said  with 
regard  to  Kingston  Fair  Day,  which  occurs  on 
13th  November.  A  writer  in  Notes  and  Queries 
(vi.  s.,  ii.,  406)  gives  a  remark  made  to  him, 
"  The  wind's  a-blowing  hard  from  the  south-west, 
and  wherever  she  is  this  day,  she'll  stick  to  all 
the  winter."  The  moon  is  supposed  to  govern 
the  weather  absolutely,  the  time  of  day  at  which 
it  changes  is  all-important,  the  nearer  midnight  the 
better,  the  nearer  mid-day  the  worse.  The 
prejudice  against  a  new  moon  on  a  Saturday  is 
universal,  and  finds  expression  in  the  following 
doggrel : — 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  47 

"  Saturday  new  and  Sunday  full, 
Ne'er  brought  good  and  never  shall."  (pronounced  "shuU.") 

Another  weather  proverb  is,  "  So  many  fogs  in 
March,  so  many  frostes  in  May." 

The  "  pig  in  the  poke "  is  the  proverb  for  an 
untried  bargain,  in  Surrey  as  elsewhere  ;  to  "  talk 
his  dog's  hind  leg  off"  is  to  be  an  incessant  talker, 
this  proverb  exists  elsewhere  as  "to  talk  a  horse's 
leg  off."  Returning  from  Croydon  one  winter 
night,  a  remark  was  made  as  to  the  excessive 
darkness,  when  the  driver  replied,  "  Aye,  so  it  is, 
dark  as  Newgate  Knocker," 

"  A  dark  Christmas  makes  a  heavy  wheat- 
sheaf,"  i.e.,  when  there  is  no  moonlight  at 
Christmas,  it  betokens  a  good  harvest.  A  green 
Christmas,  i.e.,  one  without  frost  or  snow,  is  said 
to  be  followed  by  a  full  churchyard,  being 
regarded  as  unhealthy. 

*'  Deaf  as  a  beetle  "  does  not  refer,  as  might  be 
supposed,  to  the  insect  of  that  name,  but  is 
equivalent  to  "deaf  as  a  post,"  "beetle"  or 
"  biddle  "  being  used  in  Surrey  for  a  mallet. 

"  Christen  your  own  child  first "  was  the 
somewhat  forcible  way,  in  which  a  local  Poor  Law 
guardian  expressed  the  sentiment  that  charity 
begins  at  home. 


48  .  BYGONE  SURREY. 

"Too  big  for  my  fireplace,"  is  equivalent  to 
"beyond  my  means."  It  was  used  to  me  thus, 
"  Thank  you  for  letting  me  look  at  the  farm,  but 
I  think  it  is  too  big  for  my  fireplace." 

An  old  man  who  had  been  neglected  by  a 
worthless  son,  remarked  to  me  plaintively,  "It 
ain't  often  that  the  young  birds  feed  the  old." 

Where  we  should  say  of  an  over-busy  man  that 
he  had  "  too  many  irons  in  the  fire."  a  Surrey  man 
would  say  that  he  had  too  many  "heats"  in  the 
fire.  As  "  heats  "  is  used  here  as  a  substantive,  so 
they  use  ' '  hot "  as  a  verb ;  they  say  of  a  thing 
that  they  will  "  hot "  it  over  the  fire. 

Surrey  is  not  especially  rich  in  folk-lore,  but  a 
certain  number  of  superstitions  linger  here  as 
elsewhere.  A  death  in  the  family  is  duly 
announced  to  the  bees ;  it  is  supposed  that  rain  is 
wanted  on  St.  Swithun's  Day  to  *'  christen  the 
apples,"  otherwise  there  will  be  no  fruit."* 

Not  so  many  years  ago  I  knew  an  instance  of 
an  infant,  who  was  badly  ruptured,  being  passed 
through  a  holly  tree  as  a  charm.  The  process 
was  the  following,  a  slit  was  made  in  the  tree,  the 
parts  of  which  were  held  asunder  by  two  persons, 
while  two  women,  one  holding  the  child's  head, 

*  See  Noten  and  Queries,  6.  S.  iv. ,  67. 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  49 

and  the  other  his  feet,  passed  him  stark  naked 
several  times  backwards  and  forwards  through 
the  opening,  and  my  informant  added  that  the  mark 
could  be  seen  in  the  bark  of  the  tree,  and 
remarked  "I  don't  know  that  it  was  any  good, 
but  the  old  women  at  that  time  used  to  hold  with 
it."  It  is  believed  that  a  cake  baked  on  Good 
Friday  will  keep  any  length  of  time,  and  not 
become  mouldy,  or  "■  mothery  "  as  they  express  it. 
An  old  man  told  me  that  thirty  years  or  more  ago 
his  wife  had  baked  a  cake  on  Good  Friday,  and 
hung  it  up  by  a  string,  that  ten  or  twelve  years 
afterwards  it  was  quite  good,  and  that  he  had 
eaten  it  in  sop ;  he  said  further  "  if  you  grate  it 
and  put  it  in  gruel,  it  is  a  fine  thing  for  the 
inside,"  meaning  as  a  remedy  for  diarrhoea.  This 
superstition  is  mentioned  by  Brand  in  his 
Popular  Antiquities  (Hazlitt's  Edition,  vol.  i., 
p.  88). 

The  like  tradition  as  to  its  power  to  keep  fresh, 
attaches  to  water  caught  on  Ascension  Day. 
The  same  man  told  me  that  "if  you  ketch'd  the 
rain  water  as  it  fell  on  Holy  Thursday,  and  put  it 
in  a  bottle  and  corked  it,  you  might  keep  it  as 
long  as  you  would,  and  it  would  never  go  bad," 

I    knew    a   case   lately    where,    as   a   cure  for 


60-  BYGONE  SURREY. 

whooping  cough,  a  woman  hollowed  out  a  nut 
and  put  a  spider  in  it,  and  hung  it  by  a  string 
round  her  child's  neck,  the  idea  being  that  when 
the  spider  dies  the  whooping  cough  disappears 
with  it.  The  Rev.  W.  D.  Parish  mentions  this 
as  a  cure  for  ague  (Sussex  Dialect,  p.  64). 

It  is  believed  that  the  moss,  or  "  comb  "  (pro- 
nounced *'  coom  "),  which  collects  on  church  bells 
is  a  cure  for  the  shingles.  I  enquired  one  day 
the  reason  of  my  carter  boy's  absence,  and  the 
farm-man  replied,  "  He  has  got  the  shingles,  and 
I  have  told  his  father  to  get  the  '  comb '  of  the 
church  bells  and  rub  it  into  him ;  they  say  it's  the 
best  thing  for  it." 

To  pass  now  to  the  dialect  itself 

"A"  is  used  generally  before  substantives, 
adjectives,  and  participles,  e.g.,  a-plenty,  a-many, 
a-coming,  a-going.  We  retain  it  still  in  the 
phrase  "going  a-begging."  "I  see  you  'a' 
listening  to  the  nightingale,"  said  the  hedge- 
cutter,  "  there  be  '  a '  plenty  of  'em,"  are  phrases 
which  occur  in  Jenning's  Field  Paths;  speaking 
also  of  the  healthiness  of  the  Surrey  hills,  it  is 
not  uncommon  to  hear  **  people  live  here  as  long 
as  they've  'a'  mind  to." 

Double   negatives   in   a   sentence,    or   for  the 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  51 

matter  of  that  as  many  as  can  be  crammed  in, 
are  universal.  "  You  don't  know  nothing  of  my 
dooties  noways,"  was  a  remark  made  in  my  hear- 
ing ;  "  You  don't  gather  up  no  stoans  with  this  ;" 
and  ''The  gent  ain't  going  to  give  us  nothing,"  are 
illustrations  from  Field  Paths.  The  definition  of 
a  hypocrite  in  Sussex  Folks  (p.  13),  besides  its 
appropriateness,  is  an  illustration  in  point,  "  When 
a  man  walks  lame  as  hasn't  got  nothin'  the 
matter  wi'  him  !"  "  Blesh  ye,  them  Romans  and 
Antidaiuvians  don't  know^  no  more  about  farming 
than  a  lot  o'  cockney  tailors  "  {^Chronicles  of  a 
Clay  Farm,  p.  178).  Instances  might  be  adduced 
also  from  Chaucer  and  Shakespeare. 

"  Be  "  is  general  for  "  are."  "  How  '  be '  you  ?" 
is  the  morning's  greeting,  to  which  "I  '  be ' 
pretty  middlin',  thank  ye,"  is  the  usual  answer. 
The  A.  V.  in  St.  John,  viii.  33,  has,  "  We  '  be ' 
Abraham's  seed  ;"  ''  They  beent  practical  farmers 
as  writes  that  stuff,"  is  from  Chronicles  of  a  Clay 
Farm,  p.  91.  "You've  no  ought"  is  equivalent 
to,  "  You  ought  not  to."  Comparatives  are 
formed  by  adding  "er"  to  the  positive,  and 
"  est "  to  the  superlative,  w^here,  in  ordinary 
speech,  we  should  use  "more"  and  "most,"  e.g., 
"a  'picksomer'  child   {i.e.,  daintier)  there  can't 


52  BYGONE  SURREY. 

be,"  "  He's  the  *  impudentest  chap  I  ever  see ;" 
"  She'll  ^et  busier  and  *  mischievouser '  every 
day"  (Silas  Marner,  ch.  xiv.  108).  Double 
comparatives  are  very  common ;  of  some  new 
cows  which  I  had  bought,  the  cowman  said, 
"They  are  higher,  more  upstandinger  than 
ou'rn."  Similarly  with  superlatives.  A  man  will 
say,  *'This  is  the  most  '  terrify  est '  job  I  ever 
had."  "More  happier"  and  *'most  boldest" 
are  used  by  Shakespeare,  and  the  A. V.  has  "  the 
most  ' straightest '  sect"  (Acts,  xxvi.  5).  "The 
minister^  of  the  Gospel  may  be  more  learneder  " 
(Hooke's  Ecel.  Pol:  Bk.  vii.,  ch.  iii.  1,  p.  1197). 

"Grow'd,"  "know'd,"  "see'd,"  "throw'd,"  and 
such  like  forms  are  used  both  for  the  perfect 
and  participle  passive  of  the  verbs.  **  How  the 
swedes  have  grow'd  to  be  sure  on  that  piece 
as  we  drained  last  year  "  (CJironicles  of  a  Clay 
Farm,  p.  90).  "I've  'know'd'  a  litter  of  seven 
whelps  reared  in  that  hole"  (Id.,  p.  44).  "  They 
throw  a  word  to  you  when  they  do  speak,  as 
if  they  '  throw'd '  a  bone  to  a  dog  "  (Field  Paths, 
169).  The  word  "throw"  is  also  used  in  a 
peculiar  sense  of  being  sold  or  disappointed  in 
a  bargain.     "  I  got  '  thro  wed '  over  that  job." 

''See"  is  used  also  as  the  preterite  for  "saw," 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  53 

so   in  Pickwick,    "I    *  see '  her  a  kissin'   of  him 
agin." 

"Rose,"  "took,"  and  "wrote"  are  participles 
passive  for  "risen,"  'Haken,"  and  "written." 
"  We  shall  get  rain,  I  doubt,  for  after  the  sun 
had  '  rose  '  he  went  to  bed  again."  "  Took  wus  " 
is  invariable  for  "  taken  ill."  "  Don't  mind  her, 
sir,  said  he,  she  was  '  took  '  so  at  two  years  old  " 
{Field  Paths,  p.  10).  "  He  hasn't  '  wrote  '  never 
since  he  left  home." 

Past  participles  are  formed  in  "ded,"  "ted,"  e.g. 
attackted,  drownded,  which  latter  has  the  classical 
authority  of  Dickens.  "To  the  wery  top,  sir?" 
inquired  the  waiter.  "  Why  the  milk  will  be 
drownded."  "Never  you  mind  that,"  replied 
Mr.  Squeers,  "  serve  it  right  for  being  so  dear  " 
(Nicholas  Nicklehy,  c.  v.,  p.  35.) 

"  Such  a  country  as  this,  where  everything  is 
either  scorched  up  with  the  sun  or  *  drownded ' 
with  the  rain."  (Man  near  Dorking,  Field  Paths, 
etc.,  p.  141.) 

"  The  mare  *  foalded '  last  night. " 
-   "  The  old  pond  bay  is  terrible  out  o'   Kelter, 
it  s   got   reg'lar    '  underminded '    by   the    water." 
"  The  plaiice  is  '  underminded '  by  rats." 

Certain  words  are  invariably  mispronounced. 


54  BYGONE  SURREY. 

It   may    be    well    to    give    a    list   of  some   of 
them  : — 

Acrost  for  across ;  agoo  for  ago ;  batcheldor 
for  bachelor ;  brownchitis  (or  sometime  brown 
titus)  for  bronchitis ;  chimley  or  chimbley  for 
chimney  ;  crowner  for  coroner ;  crowner's  quest 
for  coroner's  inquest;  curosity  and  curous  for 
curiosity  and  curious  ;  death  for  deaf ;  disgest  for 
digest,  and  indisgestion  for  indigestion ;  gownd 
for  gown ;  scholard  for  scholar ;  nevvy  for 
nephew  ;  non-plush'd  for  non-plussed  ;  refuge  for 
refuse ;  quid  for  cud,  "  chewing  the  quid ; " 
sarment  for  sermon ;  varmint  for  vermin  ;  sloop 
for  slope  ;  spartacles  for  spectacles ;  spavin  for 
spasms.  I  knew  an  old  woman  who  was  con- 
stantly suffering  from  "the  windy  spavin;" 
taters  for  potatoes ;  wunst  for  once  ;  wuts  for 
oats,  etc.,  etc. 

The  pleonastic  use  of  like,  in  such  phrases  as 
comfortable-' like,'  timid-' like,'  dazed-' like,'  de- 
serves notice.  '*  I  have  felt  lonesome-'  like '  ever 
since."  {Field  Paths,  etc.,  p.  23.)  "The  farmer's 
work  was  over-' like."  (Chronicles  of  a  Clay 
Farm,  p.  90.) 

The  use  of  "of,"  after  the  verb  is  peculiar. 
They  will  say  I  found  "  of"  him,  I  missed  "  of"  it, 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  55 

etc.,  so  ''tell  of"  "they  was  'telling  of  it  the 
other  night  at  Bogmoor  "  [Chronicles  of  a  Clay 
Farm,  p.  135.)* 

The  vagaries  of  the  verb  "  to  be  "  are  manifold. 
We  "am,"  they  "am,"  we  "was,"  they  "was,"  are 
constantly  heard,  and  similarly,  I  "are,"  I  "were," 
we  "  is,"  etc.  One  day  in  covert  shooting,  we 
challenged  the  beater  on  the  left,  "Where  are  you 
George  !"  The  answer  came  back,  "  Here  I  '  are,' 
all  on  the  standstill."  The  reply  to  a  question 
put  to  a  witness  at  the  Bench,  "You  are  a 
labourer  I  believe,"  was,  "Yes  sir,  I  'are.'" 
"You  know  we  '  is,' "  was  another  answer  noted 
at  the  same  place.  These  peculiarities  are  well 
illustrated  in  the  following,  from  Field  Paths,  etc. 
(p.  28,  169,  211):— "Bricks  'is'  scarce."  "They 
'  has '  to  be  idle."  "We  '  has '  artists  down  here." 
"I  'has'  enough  to  do."  These  last  instances  show 
a  similar  disregard  to  singulars  and  plurals  in 
respect  of  other  verbs.  The  possessive  pronouns 
are  invariably  "hern,"  "hisn,"  "ourn,"and  "yourn;" 
"his-self"  and  "  theirselves  "  do  duty  for  himself 
and  themselves,  rightly  as  nominatives,  but  also 
as   accusatives,    e.g.,    "he   hurt   'hisself,'"    "the 

*  This  use  of  "of"  occurs  in  Dr.  South's  Sermons  (Sermon  iv.,  431) 
"which  none  ever  missed  'of   who  came  up  to  the  conditions  of 

it." 


56  BYGOXE  SURREY. 

horse  stabbed  'hisself  somehow."  There  is  a 
peeuhar  use  of  "  me,"  which  still  survives  in 
ordinary  language  in  **  methinks,"  in  the  word 
"  mesure,"  for  I  am  sure.  "  I  don't  know 
*  mesure.' " 

We  now  give  examples  of  some  dialectal  words, 
and  perhaps  it  will  be  best  to  place  them  in 
alphabetical  order.  I  give  merely  a  selection  of 
the  most  noticeable  examples  out  of  a  great 
many. 

"Along  of,"  "all  along  of"  In  consequence  of. 
"  How  did  sin  come  into  the  world  ?"  was  the 
question  put  to  a  Sunday  school  boy.  "  *  All 
along  of  Eve  eating  that  there  apple,"  was  the 
prompt  reply.  Foster  uses  it  in  his  Life  of 
Dickens  (vol.  iii.,  79).  "  And  to  be  in  difficulties 
*all  along  of  this  place  which  he  has  planted 
with  his  own  hands." 

"Agate,"  going  on  in  making.  "  I  worked  on 
the  railway  when  the  new  line  was  *  agate.' " 

"Anyways,'  in  anyway.  "  For  if  the  child 
ever  went  '  anyway 's'  wrong."  (Silas  Mamer, 
0.  xiv.,  p.  108.^ 

"Appeal  to,"  approve  of.  I  asked  a  man  how 
he  found  his  whisky  suit  him,  and  he  answered, 
"  I  *  appeal  to  '  it  very  much." 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.         *  57 

"Arg'ify,"  i.e.,  signify,  or  matter.  "  It  don't 
*  argify  '  much  which  way  you  does  it." 

"Bait."  The  afternoon  or  four  o'clock  meal  in 
hay  and  harvest  time,  A  Surrey  labourer's 
meals  are  his  breakfast,  his  bever  or  eleven 
o'clock  meal,  his  lunch  the  mid-day  meal,  his 
bait,  and  his  supper. 

"  Bannick,"  to  beat  or  thrash.  I  heard  one  boy 
say  to  another  during  a  storm,  "  If  you  go  and 
get  wet,  you'll  get  a  *  bannicking '  when  you  go 
home."  There  are  numberless  other  words  to 
express  the  same  thing,  e.g.,  "hide,"  "fight," 
"jacket,"  "leather." 

"  Baulky  "  is  said  of  a  person  who  avoids  you, 
keeps  out  of  your  way.  "  I  saw  the  prisoner  look 
rather  *  baulky,'"  said  a  police-constable  in  evidence. 

"  Beazled,"  tired  out.  "  That  young  '  meer ' 
(mare)  was  properly  '  beazled  '  after  they  journeys 
in  the  coal  team."  "  Jowled  out"  is  used  in  the 
same  sense. 

"  Befront "  is  in  front  of  "  He  was  walking 
about  ten  yards  *  befront.'  "  "  We  keep  driving 
of  it  all  *  befront '  of  us,"  said  a  quarryman. 

"  Beleft "  is  the  participle  of  believe.  "  I 
never  could  have  *  beleft '  that  he  would  have 
bested  us  so." 


58  BYGONE  SURREY. 

"Bettermost,"  pronounced  "bettam3^"  People 
of  the  upper  classes  are  described  as  "  '  bettamy ' 
kind  of  folks."  Another  expression  of  the  same 
kind  is  "carriage  folks;"  "A  pedestrian's 
luncheon  not  fit  for  what  the  people  call 
'carriage  folks,'"  "Just  below  the  church  are 
some  old  cottages,  and  some  *  carriage  folks' ' 
houses  are  in  or  near  the  village  "  (Field  Paths, 
pages  139,  173). 

"  Bitten,"  used  adjectively.  A  dog  is  said  to 
be  "  bitten  "  when  he  is  given  to  bite. 

"  Bly,"  a  likeness.  "  He  has  a  *  bly '  of  his 
father "  means  that  he  is  rather  like  him.  The 
more  usual  expression  is  to  "  favour,"  which 
implies  a  strong  resemblance.  This  is  not 
strictly  a  local  word,  and  occurs  in  Shakespeare, 
Jlie  Spectator,  etc.  "  St.  Louis  is  a  very  blood-like 
colt  *  favouring '  another  son  of  Hermit,  Peter," 
is  an  extract  from  the  sporting  intelligence  of  the 
Times. 

"  Brave  "  is  a  constant  epithet  of  things  large 
or  fine,  whether  animate  or  inanimate  ;  a  "brave" 
beast,  a  "  brave  "  oak,  etc.  "  I  went  to  see  my 
grandsons,  and  carried  them  a  '  brave '  basket  of 
nectarines,"  occurs  in  one  of  the  Hon.  Mrs. 
Boscawen's  letters ;  and  Dickens,   in  one  of  his 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  59 

letters,  speaks  of  some  "  brave "  old  churches  on 
the  Rhine. 

"  Burden,"  quantity.  "  There  aint  a  great 
'  burden  '  of  grass  this  year." 

"  Call,"  occasion,  need.  "  Especially  as  you've 
no  '  call '  to  be  told  how  to  value  yourself,  my 
dear,"  says  Mr.  Boffin  in  Dickens'  Mutual  Friend; 
"  You've  no  *  call '  to  catch  cold  "  (Silas  Marner, 
ch.  xiii.,  102) ;  "And  here  there  is  no  'call'  even 
to  regret  how  great  an  actor  was  in  Dickens  lost  " 
(Life  of  Dickens,  vol.  ii.,  181). 

"  Cant  over,"  to  upset,  e.g.,  "  The  wagon 
'  canted  over.'  " 

"  Caterways,"  "catering,"  and  the  verb  to 
"cater,"  signify  to  cross  diagonally.  One  is  often 
directed  to  cross  a  field  "caterways;"  a  drain 
which  crosses  a  hill  diagonally  instead  of  going 
straight  down  it  is  said  to  "  cater  "  the  hill. 

"  Christian,"  human  being.  "  I  never  see  sich 
a  dog,  he's  as  sensible  as  any  '  Christian.' " 

"  Clung,"  moist,  damp.  Grass  which  has  been 
exposed  to  wet  is  said  to  handle  so  "  clung." 

" Denial,"  drawback.  Mr.  Parish  quotes  "his 
deathness  is  a  great  *  denial '  to  him."  The  same 
idea  is  expressed  by  the  word  "  hurt." 

"  Dignify,"    identify.     In   a   larceny   case   the 


60  BYGONE  SURREY. 

witness  said  :  "Amongst  the  three  I  'dignified' 
this  man." 

"  Dishabill."  This  word  must  have  come  down 
as  a  legacy,  I  think,  from  the  Norman-French 
waiting-maids.  The  inmate  of  a  cottage  will  tell 
you  "  We're  all  in  '  dishbill '  this  morning,"  if  she 
has  not  had  time  to  clean  the  house;  "Our 
churchyard  aint  'tended  to  as  it  were  in  Muster 
Bigg's  time,  it's  all  in  *  dishbill '  now,"  said  a 
sexton  who  was  showing  me  over  a  church.  Other 
French  words  have,  we  know,  been  retained : 
the  countryman  calls  the  fox  Reynolds,  from 
the  French  renard;  and  when  the  butcher  talks  of 
the  "costes"  of  a  sheep  or  bullock,  it  is  the 
French  cdte  a  side;  while  obedience  for  a  bow  or 
curtsey  is,  of  course,  from  obeisance.  It  was  re- 
freshing the  other  day  to  hear  from  an  old  man 
who  complained  of  being  blind,  "  It  hurts  me  so 
that  I  can't  see  your  carriage  when  it  passes  to 
make  my  *  obedience.'  " 

"Dout"  is  to  do  out,  put  out.  "As  soon  as  I 
see  it  was  a  fire  I  done  my  best  to  *  dout '  it ; " 
"  I'll  be  sure  and  '  dout '  it  afore  I  goo." 

"Druv,"  driven.  "I  won't  be  'druv'"  is  a 
favourite  expression  in  Surrey.  The  crest 
attributed  to   Sussex  is  a  hog,  and  the  motto, 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  61 

"We  wun't  be  'druv'  "  (Egerton,  Sussex  Folks  and 
Sussex  Ways,  page  7). 

"Dryth,"  drought.  During  the  present  season 
we  have  heard  often  enough  of  the  "dryth."  Of 
trees  planted  in  a  loose  soil,  it  is  said  they  must 
be  trod  up  or  the  "dryth  "  will  get  into  them. 

"Ellow."  If  a  plum  pudding,  or  what  they 
call  a  "pond-butter  pudding,"  is  very  short  of 
currants,  or  has  but  few  plums  in  it,  they  say  it  is 
"terrible  'ellow.'"  The  word  is  possibly  con- 
nected with  "ellinge,"  lonely.  "It's  a  nice 
pleasant  place  in  summer,  but  in  winter  it's 
unaccountable  cold  and  'ellinge,'"  said  a  woman 
who  lived  on  the  hill. 

"To  fail"  is  to  fall  ill,  generally  of  some 
infectious  illness,  e.g.,  "to  fail"  with  the  measles, 
or  the  "glass-pock,"  which  is  the  name  given  to 
chicken-pox. 

"Fitty"  is  subject  to  fits. 

"Fight"  is  used  in  the  sense  of  to  beat. 

"To  flaw,"  literally  "to  flay,"  is  to  take  the 
bark  off;  the  "flawing  time"  is  the  oak-barking 
season.  "  I've  got  a  very  bad  cold,  almost  as  if  I 
was  'flawed,'  so  sore  inside;"  "All  that  the 
shepherd  said  when  they  told  him  some  more  of 
the  lambs  were  dead  was,  '  Then  there'll  be  a  lot 


62  BYGONE  SURREY. 

more  for  me  to  "flaw,"  I  reckon.'"  Dickens 
writes:  "Till  I  have  been  'flayed'  with  the  cold." 

A  "  flittermouse  "  is  a  bat. 

A  "  fly-golding  "  a  lady-bird,  or  "  lady-bug,"  as 
it  is  called. 

"  Foundrous,"  bottomless,  boggy.  "  The  road 
over  the  common  is  too  *  foundrous '  in  this  wet 
weather." 

"  Fruz "  is  the  past  participle  of  freeze.  "  I 
got  regular  'fruz'  from  the  cold." 

"  Going  home,"  figuratively  said  of  a  tree 
when  it  is  decaying.  "That  old  tree's  'gwain 
home  '  very  fast.  A  writer  in  Notes  and  Quei'ies 
(5  f.,  vi.,  126)  says  that  his  gardener,  speaking  of 
some  plants  which  showed  little  signs  of  life,  said, 
"  I  was  afraid  they  were  *  gone  home.'  " 

The  church  bell  "  goes  out "  when  it  tolls.  "  I 
heer'd  the  church  bell  '  go  out '  for  someone 
to-day." 

The  principal  house  in  a  place,  although  it  may 
not  be  very  large,  is  always  called  the  "  great- 
house."  "  We  be  a-goin'  to  kill  him  after  dinner 
for  the  'great-house  '"  [Field  Paths,  p.  148). 

A  "  gratten "  is  a  stubble,  whether  of  corn, 
peas,  or  beans  ;  the  clover- leys  also  are  called  the 
"sheep-grattens."      Partridges    feeding    on  the 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  63 

stubbles,  or  pigs  turned  out  there,  are  said  to  be 
"grattening." 

"  Hand  "  is  a  trouble  or  handful.  "  It's  a  very 
great  '  hand  '  to  have  sich  a  long  family."  "  First 
hands  "  is  at  first  starting. 

To  "  hele,"  or  "  hele  in  "  a  building,  is  to  cover 
it  with  straw  or  tiles ;  mangold  or  potatos  are 
"  heled  "  up  when  they  are  covered  with  earth. 
In  Wiclif's  translation  of  the  Bible  (1  Cor.,  xi.) 
the  word  "  helid  "  occurs  throughout  where  the 
A.V.  has  "covered,"  e.g.,  "  Bisemeth  it  a  woman 
'  helid '  on  the  head  to  praise  God  "  (v.  13). 

A  "  hem  "  is  used  expletively  for  a  quantity. 
"  I  see  a  *  hem  '  of  a  lot  of  sand  mucked  out  there 
sureligh."  No  more  amusing  instance  is  given  of 
the  use  of  the  word  than  that  in  Sussex  Folks  and 
Sussex  Ways,  p.  3  : — "  Politics  are  about  like 
this,"  said  a  Sussex  man,  "I've  got  a  sow  in 
my  yard  with  twelve  little  uns,  and  they  little  uns 
can't  all  feed  at  once,  so  I  shut  six  on  'em  out  of 
the  yard  while  t'other  six  be  sucking,  and  the  six 
as  be  shut  out  they  just  do  make  a  '  hem  '  of 
a  noise  till  they  be  let  in,  and  then  they  be  just 
as  quiet  as  the  rest." 

"Innardly."  Of  a  person  who  mumbles,  it  is 
said  "  he  talks  so  '  innardly.' " 


64  BYGONE  SURREY. 

"  Interrupt."  This  word  is  used  not  only  of 
interfering  with  or  attacking,  but  also  in  the  sense 
of  causing  discomfort,  disagreeing  with.  "If  I 
eats  any  heavy  food  it  '  interrupts '  me  so." 

"Jacket."  A  workman  always  calls  his  coat  a 
jacket. 

"  Jack  up."  A  very  common  word  in  the  sense 
of  stopping,  refusing  to  work  any  more.  "  That 
spring  'most  always  'jacks  up'  in  autumn  time." 

"  Jiniver  "  is  the  pronunciation  of  January,  and 
seems  to  come  very  near  the  French.  There  is 
a  prejudice  against  hatching  chickens  in  January. 
"  *  Jiniver '  poults  never  come  to  no  good,"  said 
the  old  poultry  woman. 

"  Joy  "  is  the  pronunciation  of  the  bird  known 
as  the  jay. 

"Kings'  evil."  The  scrofula  is  still  known  by 
this  name. 

"  Leastways "  is  a  word  perpetually  in  use. 
"  Everybody's  rich  over  there,  or,  *  leastways,'  its 
their  own  fault  if  they  aint"  [Field  Paths,  p.  170). 

In  the  *'  lew,"  pronounced  loo,  is  in  the  shelter, 
or  in  the  leuth  as  a  substantive,  the  verb  to  lew 
is  to  shelter  or  protect  from  the  rain. 

"  Lief,"  •*  Liever."  "  I'd  as  lief  not,"  I  would 
rather  not.    "  I  had  as  '  lief  my  tailor  should  sew 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  65 

gingerbread  nuts  on  my  coat  instead  of  buttons." 

(Cowper's  Letters,  No.  55). 

Gower's  noble  sentiment  must  be  quoted  (Conf. 

Amant.  Lib.,  1.) — 

"  The  knight  had  '  lever '  for  to  die 
Than  breke  his  trouth." 

"  Ijippy,"  insolent.  "  A  very  '  lippy  '  man  "  is 
a  man  who  insults  you. 

"  Looses  "  are  the  deep  ruts  in  a  cartway. 

"  Market  fresh,"  one  of  the  many  euphemisms  for 
drunk.  Rev.  W.  Parish,  Sussex  Dialect,  p.  30, 
gives  a  curious  Sussex  expression,  "  concerned  in 
drink."  It  is  impossible  ever  to  get  an  admission 
of  drunkenness, — "  he'd  had  a  drop  of  beer  "  is 
about  as  far  as  one  can  get. 

"  Messengers "  are  the  flying  clouds  which 
detach  themselves  from  the  rest,  and  float  across 
the  sky.  They  are  called  also  water  dogs,  and  are 
sure  indications  of  wet  weather. 

"  Middling "  is  a  word  which  does  duty  in 
various  senses.  If  you  enquire  of  a  countryman 
how  he  does,  or  of  a  farmer  how  his  crops  are 
looking,  you  never  get  beyond  "  middling "  in 
reply.  "  He's  given  to  chuck  people  out 
*  middling '  sudden,"  said  a  witness  speaking  of  a 
publican. 


66  BYGONE  SURREY. 

"  Mixen  "  is  a  heap  of  dung  and  soil,  or  other 
compost.  The  story  of  "  Master  Wimber,"  told 
in  Sussex  Folks,  p.  15,  and  how  he  should  spend 
his  holiday  after  twenty  years'  hard  work,  affords 
a  charming  picture  of  rustic  contentment.  "  He 
would  buy  four  ounces  of  baccer,  and  sit  on  the 

*  mixen,'  and  smoke  it  out." 

"  Native,"  birthplace  or  native  place  used  as  a 
substantive. 

"No  out."  This  is  the  verdict  of  the  rustic 
umpire,  instead  of  "  not  out."  A  great  deal  of 
dialect  is  to  be  heard  in  a  cricket  tent.  "  Holt," 
"  Holt,"  is  shouted  to  an  incautious  batsman  if 
attempting  a  short  run ;  and  if  an  appeal  is 
made  for  a  catch  from  a  ball  that  touches  the 
ground,  a  chorus  of  "  Cowden,  first  bounce  out," 
is  in  this  district  shouted  out  by  the  spectators. 
It  is  clear  that  in  some  match  in  which  Cowden, 
a  village  in  Kent,  on  the  south-east  border  of 
Surrey,  was  engaged,  the  umpire  had  given  a 
man  out  first  "bounce,"  and  the  tradition  lingers 
still.  The  remark  is  always  received  with  much 
merriment 

"  Noration  "  or  "  oration,"  an  unnecessary  fuss 
or   to-do  about   anything.      "He   made  quite  a 

*  noration '  down  the  valley  from  public-house  to 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  67 

public-house,"  said  a  police  constable  in  a  case  of 
drunkenness. 

"  Nurt."  To  entice,  to  lead  astray,  also  nourish. 
"  The  cat  got  up  in  the  tree,  and  we  did  all  we 
could  to  *nurt'  her  down."  In  a  dog-stealing  case, 
the  witness  being  asked  whether  the  defendants 
were  discouraging  the  dog  from  following, 
answered: — "They  was  'nurting'  of  it  all  they 
could."  Speaking  of  young  cattle,  the  farm  man 
said,  "  We  must  *  nurt '  'em  along  a  little  bit." 

"  Order."  To  be  in  a  tidy  order  about  anything 
is  to  be  very  much  put  out. 

"  Ordinary,"  pronounced  "  ornary,"  said  of 
persons  who  are  unwell,  and  of  crops  which  are 
scanty.     "  I  feel  plaguy  *  ornary,'  I  can  tell  'ee." 

"  Otherwhile."  Every  now  and  then,  occa- 
sionally.    "  I  takes  a  glass  of  beer  '  otherwhile.'  " 

"  Outasked "  is  to  have  had  the  banns  of 
marriage  published  three  times.  "  I  agreed  to 
marry  them  on  the  Monday  morning  after  they 
were  'outasked'"     (Sussex  Folk,  p.  96). 

"  Out  and  out "  is  a  favourite  expression  for 
first-rate.  "  They  tell  me  that  the  last  turkey  I 
sent  in  was  an  '  out  and  out '  'un." 

"  Out  o'  doors."  This  is  used  in  various  ways  ; 
"Farming  is  gone  *out  o'  doors,'"  i.e.,  has  gone 


«8  BYGONE  SURREY. 

to  the  bad ;  "I  don't  know  many  of  these  plants 
about,  they  be  '  out  o'  doors '  now,"  i.e.,  have  gone 
out  of  fashion ;  "  There's  not  a  better  field  lies 
*  out'  o'  doors,' "  said  the  woodman,  and  with 
this  compare,  "  There'll  never  be  standing  still  for 
winter  work  on  this  here  farm,  as  long  as  ever  it 
lies  '  out  o'  doors,'  let  who  will  farm  it ! " 
{^Chronicles  of  a  Clay  Farm,  p.  90.) 

"  Peart,"  pronounced  as  a  dissyllable,  brisk, 
lively.  "I'm  *  pert '  and  willing  to  listen  to  his 
proposal  of  a  journey."  (Letter  of  Hon.  Mrs. 
Boscawen,  March  11th,  1794).  "  I  preached  for 
him  three  times,  and  one  of  his  parishioners  was 
kind  enough  to  say,  'Your  father,  sir,  is  the 
"peartest"  old  gentleman  I  ever  seed.'"  {Life  of 
Dean  Hook,  ii.,  p.  492.) 

"  Picksome,"  dainty,  of  a  delicate  appetite. 

"  Pick  upon,"  to  interefere  with  or  annoy.  "  I 
think  it  very  hard  for  me  to  be  *  picked  upon ' 
always." 

"  Plaguey,"  an  expletive.  "  I  feel  *  plaguey ' 
queer,"  or  "'plaguey'  ornary,"  i.e.,  "I  am  very 
unwell." 

"  And  yet  methinks  to  tell  you  true 
You  sell  it  *  plaguey '  dear." 
(Cowper.     Yearly  distress  in  Tithing  Time  at  Stock,  Essex). 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  69 

"  Play  upon,"  always  of  pain.  "  The  toothache 
*  played  upon '  me  so,  that  I  was  nearly  drove 
distracted." 

"  Platty,"  uneven.  "  The  hops  is  wonderful 
'  platty '  this  year." 

"Pretty,"  used  adverbially,  "nicely."  They 
will  say  to  a  child,  "  Speak  '  pretty '  to  the 
gentleman."  "  The  boy  sings  '  pretty,'  don't  he, 
Master  Marner  ?  "  "  Yes,"  said  Silas,  absently, 
"very  'pretty.'"     (Silas  Marner,  x.,  74.) 

"  Puddle  about,"  to  walk  about  slowly  as  an  old 
man,  or  as  one  recovering  from  an  illness.  "  He 
jist  '  puddles  about '  in  the  garden  when  'tis  fine." 
"  Pull,"  to  summons  before  the  Bench.  "  He's 
bin  that  disagree'ble  ever  sin  I  '  pulled '  him  that 
time." 

"  Put  upon,"  to  impose  upon.  "  I'll  not  be 
'  put  upon  '  by  no  man."  (Silas  Marner,  ch.  xi., 
p.  40). 

"  Quirk,"  to  make  a  faint  noise  indicative  of 
fear.  Of  a  rabbit  in  a  hole  when  worried  by  a 
ferret,  and  preparing  to  bolt,  the  man  said,  "  I  hear 
'un  rumble,  aint  he  jist  a  *  quirking.'  " 

"  Round-Frock,"  a  smock-frock,  otherwise  a 
"slop."  There  are  still  two  men  in  my  own 
parish     (Titsey)     who      wear     them,     but      in 


U 


70  BYGONE  SURREY. 

another  generation  they  will  have  become  things 
of  the  past. 

"  Rowen,"  the  grass  after  mowing,  or  the 
second  crop.  "  He  said  he  wouldn't  be  in  a 
hurry  as  he'd  had  two  *  rowen  '  stacks  fired  in  his 
time." 

"  The  other  forbeare 
For  '  rowen '  to  spare." 

— (Tusser's  Husbandry,  66,  25.) 

"  Runagate,"  a  good-for-nothing  fellow.  "  One 
of  they  'runagate'  chaps."  -'Ay,  they  be 
'runagates,' "  z.e.,  "ne'er-do-wells"  {Field  Paths, 
p.  38). 

"Runt,"  locally  a  Welsh  bullock.  "  Heriot 
unus  boviculus  Anglic^  a  'runt'"  {Court  Roll, 
Titsey  Manor,  23  May,  1715). 

"  Saturday  night,"  weekly  pay.  "  He's  troubled 
to  find  work  for  his  men  this  snowy  weather,  and 
they  all  expect  their  '  Saturday  night '  jist  the 
same." 

"  Sauce,"  pronounced  "  soss,"  vegetables  ;  called 
also  "  green  soss." 

"  Scrow,"  sulky,    scowling.      "  He  looked    very 
'scrow'  at  me." 

"  Set,"  settle.  "  I  had  no  food  all  day,  and 
took  some  cider,  and  a  little  whisky  on  the  top  of 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  71 

it,  and  it  didn't  set  well."  [Defendant's  answer 
to  a  charge  of  drunkenness]. 

"  Shatter,"  a  sprinkling,  or  fair  crop.  "  There  be 
a  middlin'  '  shatter '  o'  hops  this  year,  I  reckon. " 

"  Sheers,"  the  shires  so  pronounced.     Any  one 

not  living  in  Kent,  Surrey,  or  Sussex  is  described 

as  "coming  from  the  sheers."     "  This  word,"  says 

Rev.   J.   C.   Egerton  (Sussex  Folks,   p.   19),  "a 

non-Sussex  reader  may  interpret  to  mean  any  part 

of  England  generally  outside  of  Sussex,  Surrey, 

or  Kent."      The  pronunciation  is  illustrated  by 

the   following    epitaph  in    Deddington    Church, 

Oxon.,  on  Thomas  Greenhill,  died  1634  : — 

"  Under  thy  feete  interr'd  is  here, 
A  Native  borne  in  Oxford-shere." 

*' Shifty,"  untidy,  helpless.  "She  was  a 
wonderful  '  shifty  '  woman,"  was  the  description  of 
a  farmer's  untidy  wife. 

"  Shuckish,"  showery,  unsettled  ;  of  weather. 

'*  Shut  of"  To  get  rid  of  An  old  gardener 
was  complaining  of  the  young  ladies  of  a  family 
who  were  very  numerous,  for  making  constant 
raids  upon  his  fruit.  One  of  them  said  to  him, 
"  Why  !  Masters,  how  thankful  you  ought  to 
be  that  we  are  not  all  boys."  "  Ne'er  a  bit,  miss," 
he  answered,  "  for  if  ye  were  boys  ye'd  but  be  at 


78  BYGONE  SURREY. 

home  for  the  holidays,  and  then  I  should  get 
*  shut 'o' ye." 

"  Sight,"  a  great  quantity,  a  great  deal. 
"  There's  a  wonderful  '  sight '  o'  apples  this  year." 
"It  costes  a  'sight'  o'  money."  "We  catch  a 
'  sight '  of  fish  "  (Field  Paths,  iii.,  11).  "  It  did 
her  a  'sight'  o'  good"  [Chronicles  of  a  Clay 
Farm,  p.  92). 

"  Smoke,  up  in  the,"  i.e.,  in  London.  To 
prisoner,  "Where  have  you  been  since  December 
last?"     "I've  been  up  in  the  smoke." 

"  Snob."    A  cobbler,  travelling  shoemaker. 

"  Spilt."  Spoiled.  "  If  you've  got  anything  as 
can  be  '  spilt '  or  broke "  (Silas  Mamer,  ch. 
xiv.,  108). 

"  Who-so  will  it  knowe 
Who-so  spareth  the  spymge 
'  Spilleth '  his  children." 

— Piers  Plotoman. 

"Spoon-meat."  Broth  or  slops.  "He's  not 
taken  nothin'  but  *  spoon-meat'  for  ever  so  long," 

"  Statesman."  A  landowner.  "  It's  all  very 
well  for  you  '  statesmen '  to  keep  oak  trees  for  the 
pleasure  of  looking  at  'em." 

"Stood."  Stuck  fast.  "The  wagon  got  stood 
there." 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  73 

"  Stud."  A  state  of  meditation,  a  brown  study. 
"I  met  Mr.  Jones,  but  he  seemed  all  in  a  'stud,' 
and  not  to  take  no  notice  o'  what  I  said." 

"  Swimy,"  giddy,  light-headed,  pronounced  with 
'  i '  long.  "  What  can  be  more  picturesque,"  asks  a 
Sussex  correspondent,  "  than  our  bailiff's  account 
of  his.  attack  of  influenza."  "  Well,  sir,  I  felt 
that  '  swimy  I  seem'd  most  ready  to  pitch 
otherwhile." 

"Team,"  not  restricted  to  horses,  e.g.,  "a 
'team'  of  cows." 

"Terrify,"  pronounced  "tarrify,"  to  tease  or 
annoy.  A  child  who  asks  for  a  thing  over  and 
over  again  is  said  "to  keep  all  on  'terrifying.'" 
A  cough  is  "terrifying."  A  batsman  who  hits 
hard  is  said  to  "terrify"  the  bowler. 

"  Tidy,"  in  sense  of  good,  well.  "He's  getting 
along  pretty  'tidy.'"  "Our  paarson  is  a  very 
'  tidy '  preacher,"  said  a  clerk  who  was 
shewing  me  over  a  church ;  the  same  man 
remarked,  "that's  our  warming  'apparition'" 
{i.e.,    "apparatus.") 

"Timmersome,"  timid. 

"  Tissick,"  a  tickling  cough. 

"Trapes  about,"  To  go  about  in  a  shipshod, 
untidy  manner. 


74  BYGONE  SURREY. 

"Travish,"  rubbish,  refuse. 

"  Unaccountable."  No  word  is  more  frequently 
on  the  lips  of  the  labourer.  "  Work  is  '  unaccount- 
able '  slack  just  now." 

"  Up,"  to  get  up  hurriedly,  or  lift  passionately. 
"  He  '  ups '  with  his  fist." 

"Up-grown,"  grown  up.  "We  never  get 
about  eight  or  ten  '  up-grown '  persons  at  church 
in  the  morning." 

"Uppards."  He  lives  "uppards"  means  in 
direction  of  London.  The  wind  is  'uppards,' 
implies  that  it  is  in  the  North. 

"Upset,"  to  find  fault  with,  attack,  or  knock 
down.  "  I  didn't  like  to  tackle  him  because  there 
were  two  of  'em,  and  I  was  afraid  he  would 
'upset'  me." 

"Venturesome,"  adventurous. 

"  Victuals,"  pronounced  also  "  wittles,"  food 
(generally.  "  I'll  just  get  a  bit  o'  '  vittles,'  and 
then  I'll  be  off." 

"  Warrant,"  pronounced  "  warn't."  "  He'll  not 
be  long  there,  I'll  '  warn't '  ye." 

"  Week-a-days, "  as  distinguished  from  Sunday. 
"I  wears  it  Sundays  and  *  week-a-days.'" 

"Welt,"  or  "welt-up,"  scorched.  "The  grass 
is  reg'lar  '  welted '  this  year." 


THE  DIALECT  OF  SURREY.  75 

"Wift,"  quick  and  silently.  I  was  walking 
with  a  man,  and  a  bicycle  passed  us  without  our 
hearing  it,  and  he  said,  "They  come  by  so  'wift,' 
don't  they  ?" 

"Wonderful,"  excessively,  of  German  "wun- 
derbar."  "'Wonderful'  weak,"  "'wonderful'  hot," 
etc.  "I've  seen  men  as  are  'wonderful'  handy 
wi'  children"  (Silas  Marner,  ch.  xiv.,  107.)  The 
following  recommendation  of  her  future  son-in-law 
was  given  to  me  by  a  cottager,  together  with  the 
account  of  his  courtship  : — "  I  don't  know  no 
harm  of  the  young  man,  he  hung  on  constant 
to  Hemma  for  seven  year,  and  walked  out  with 
her  sister  afore  that,  and  he's  a  '  wonderful '  handy 
chap  to  carry  water." 

"Wore  out,"  worn  out.  "Yes,  I'm  cripplish 
'  wore  out,'  that's  all."  "  Poor  thing,  she  was 
fairly  '  wore  out'"  (Field  Paths,  p.  69). 

"Yaffle,"  the  green  woodpecker,  so  called  from 
its  laughing  note. 

"Year,"  plural  for  "years."  "That's  my  own 
mother,  and  she  be  dead  sixty  '  year.'"  "  I 
was  a  sawyer  up  in  them  woods  for  five  and 
forty  'year'"   (Field  Paths,  p.  40,  137). 

Such  are  some  of  the  provincialisms  yet  to  be 
heard  in  Surrey  ;  many  of  them  are  peculiar  to 


76  BYGONE  SURREY. 

the  South  of  England,  others  are  current 
elsewhere.  I  have  given  nothing  which  I  have 
not  heard  myself  from  the  mouths  of  the 
inhabitants,  and  the  illustrations  which  I  have 
supplied,  except  where  taken  from  books,  are 
such  as  have  been  used  in  conversation  with  me. 
They  tell  us  of  the  language  of  our  forefathers, 
and  as  such  are  a  contribution  to  "  Bygone 
Surrey." 


ancient  1Roat)6  anb  Ma^s. 

By  H.  F.  Napper. 

THE  Watling  Street. — In  treating  of  the 
ancient  roads  and  ways  of  Bygone  Surrey, 
the  old  WatUng  Street  claims,  of  course,  the  first 
notice.  But  the  question  arises  whether  in  the 
earliest  times  that  part  of  Surrey  through  which 
this  road  runs  was  not  a  portion  of  Kent ;  for  the 
boundary  between  Surrey  and  Kent  was  at  one 
time  so  uncertain  that  in  the  seventeenth  century 
there  was  a  solemn  inquiry  by  the  Judges  to 
decide  whether  Hatcham  was  part  of  Surrey  or 
of  Kent ;  and  it  was  decided  to  be  in  Surrey. 

Ptolemy  says  distinctly  that  Londinium  be- 
longed to  the  Cantii.  The  origin  of  the  Roman 
name  of  Londinium  would  appear  to  be  the  British 
name  Llong  Dinas,  which  probably  means  a  place 
for  ships.  I  have  often  wondered  why  the 
Welshmen  always  write  their  name  Llan  with 
two  I's,  when  one  would  be  sufficient ;  but  lately 
I  have  observed  that  the  oldest  writers  write  the 
word  Lhan,  so  that  I  imagine  the  second  1  is  now 


78  BYGONE  SURREY. 

intended  to  represent  h ;  therefore  apparently 
Llong  Dinas  should  be  Lhong  Dinas ;  but  the 
Romans  dropped  the  h  and  g  as  surplusage,  and 
made  the  name  Londinium.  Well,  then,  if 
Londinium  belonged  to  the  Cantii,  their 
territory  must  have  extended  beyond  the  present 
bounds  of  Kent ;  and  it  would  follow  that 
Londinium  was  located  on  the  south  side  of  the 
Thames,  in  what  is  now  the  county  of  Surrey ; 
for  it  is  most  improbable  that  the  Trinobantes 
would  allow  the  Cantii  to  have  a  town  on  their 
side  of  the  river ;  but  nevertheless  the  Trino- 
bantes might  have  a  town,  or  some  settlement  of 
their  own,  on  their  side ;  and,  indeed,  this  would 
appear  quite  probable,  for  the  remains  of  pile 
dwellings  have  been  found  in  the  peat  of 
Finsbury,  as  well  as  of  Southwark  ;  and  the  part 
of  Surrey  which  belonged  to  Kent  would  pro- 
bably be  represented  by  Southwark,  Bermondsey, 
and  perhaps  Lambeth,  which  extends  a  long  way 
down  towards  Kent.  The  neighbours  of  the 
Cantii  were  the  Rhemi,  who  inhabited  East 
Surrey  perhaps  as  far  as  the  river  Wey,  where 
they  adjoined  the  Bibroci.  I  say,  then,  that 
Londinium  of  the  Cantii  was  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Thames ;  but  it  has  been  objected  that  this 


ANCIEI^T  ROADS  AND   WAYS.  79 

was  too  wet  and  marshy  a  place  for  the  British 
town.  We  know,  however,  that  the  Britons 
relied  on  their  marshes  for  protection  against 
invaders  (perhaps  wolves),  and  therefore  made 
their  dwellings  in  marshy  and  woody  places  ;  but 
this  locality  was  not  all  marsh,  for  we  find 
Bermpnds  Eye  and  Horse  Eye  included  in  it, 
shewing  there  were  islets  of  higher  ground  inter- 
spersed between  the  marshes  and  creeks,  whereon 
they  could  dwell  in  safety  and  comfort. 

We  know,  now,  that  the  Watling  Street  ran 
from  the  coast  of  Kent  to  London,  and  crossed 
the  Thames  there ;  and  we  know  further  that 
above  150  years  before  the  time  of  Ptolemy, 
Julius  Caesar  made  a  second  raid  into  Kent ;  and 
Mr.  Vine,  in  his  book,  "  Caesar  in  Kent," 
conducts  him  up  the  Watling  Street  as  far  as 
about  Dartford,  which  is  no  doubt  correct ;  but 
from  that  point  he  takes  him  to  Holwood  Hill, 
by  what  may  have  been  afterwards  a  road  to 
Noviomagus ;  and  thence  across  the  heaths  and 
wilds  of  Surrey  (by  unknown  tracks)  to  Coway 
Stakes  on  the  Thames,  where  Camden  fancied  he 
had  found  the  locality  of  his  crossing  by  the 
implication  of  the  "  Stakes "  which  had  been 
found   there,  and  which   he  identified   with  the 


80  BYGONE  SURREY. 

stakes  said  to  have  been  used  by  the  Britons  to 
fortify  the  ford  to  which  they  retreated,  and 
where  they  intended  to  resist  the  crossing  of 
Caesar  and  his  army. 

But  it  is  much  more  Ukely  that,  if  the  Britons 
(with  their  4,000  chariots)  retreated  along  the 
Wathng  Street  so  far  as  Dartford,  they  would 
continue  their  retreat  along  the  same  road,  and 
not  (with  their  chariots)  across  pathless  heaths 
and  wilds  of  Surrey  to  Coway  Stakes. 

We  know  that  the  Watling  Street  crossed  the 
Thames  and  ran  on  to  St.  Albans  (and  far 
beyond) ;  but  the  point  for  consideration  is  where, 
at  what  spot,  was  the  "ford"  which  the  Britons 
had  fortified  with  stakes,  and  there  awaited  the 
coming  of  Caesar  ?  It  can  scarcely  be  supposed 
to  be  elsewhere  than  on  or  near  the  line  of  the 
road  by  which  the  Britons  were  retreating  ;  and  it 
is  remarkable  that  in  the  very  line  of  their  retreat, 
where  the  river  is  widest,  and  therefore  most 
shallow,  there  is  on  the  Middlesex  bank  a  locality 
called  "  Hungerford,"  near  Charing  Cross. 

And  from  the  Lambeth  side  of  the  river,  oppo- 
site to  Hungerford,  may  be  traced  by  the  names 
of  the  Narrow  Wall  and  Pedlar's  Acre  (Agger)  a 
route  from  this  ford  to  Londinium  at  South  wark 


ANCIENT  ROADS  AND   WAYS.  81 

and  Bermondsey.  And  further,  on  the  Middlesex 
side,  the  ancient  Saltway  to  Londinium  may  be 
traced  from  Uxbridge,  via  Acton,  Kensington, 
and  Hyde  Park,*  straight  to  this  ford.  And  I 
observe  what  is  very  remarkable,  that  Mr.  Vine, 
in  the  first  map  in  his  book  "  Caesar  in  Kent," 
actually  carries  the  Watling  Street  up  to  ,the 
bend  in  the  Thames,  opposite  Hungerford,  and 
not  to  Westminster  Bridge,  where  it  is  usually 
thought  to  have  crossed.  Why  was  this 
done  ?  I  say,  then,  very  confidently,  that  this 
was  t]ie  ford  where  Caesar  dislodged  the  Britons 
and  crossed  the  Thames. 

I  am  aware  that  Dr.  Guest  says  that  the 
crossing  was  at  Halliford,  because  he  thinks  that 
was  the  lowest  ford  down  the  river ;  but  Hunger- 
ford  is  clearly  far  lower  down,  and  also  is  on 
Caesar's  probable  line  of  march  on  the  Watling 
Street.  Yet  it  is  remarkable  that  although  a 
market  was  established  by  its  side,  the  ford 
became  disused  in  the  course  of  time,  and  for  this 
reason  : — 

When  the  Romans  had  established  themselves 
in  Britain,  they  soon  settled  a  new  colony  at 
Londinium  ;    but  this  was  on  the   north  side   of 

*  Hotton  Row,  the  fashionable  ride,  seema  to  be  the  old  Roman  road. 

6 


82  BYGONE  SURREY. 

the  river,  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of 
London,  and  it  was  called  "  Londinium  Augusta." 
And  when  this  had  been  done  it  was  apparently 
found  convenient  to  divert  the  Watlinor  Street 
from  its  old  course  to  Hungerford  into  the  new 
colony  (probably  by  means  of  a  ferry)  at  London 
Bridge ;  from  this  we  have  the  Watling  Street  of 
to-day  within  the  city  ;  and  it  was  carried  on  to 
Hampsted,  and  into  the  main  line  again  near 
Hendon :  and  it  would  appear  that  they 
straightened  the  course  of  the  main  line  from 
about  the  Paragon  in  Kent  Road  over  the  river 
at  Lambeth  Ferry,  and  by  the  Edgeware  Road 
to  the  camp  at  Brockley  Hill  (Sulloniacse) ;  and 
these  two  diversions  together  rendering  the  ford 
at  Hungerford  less  necessary,  and  probably  less 
used,  it  by  degrees  became  disused  and  forgotten 
altogether. 

That  the  fact  was  as  stated  can  be  readily  seen 
by  the  Ravenna  list  of  names,  where,  coming  up 
the  Watling  Street  from  Durobrivse  (Rochester) 
will  be  found  at  No.  80  the  name  "Londini;" 
and  again  coming  down  the  Watling  Street 
from  Verulam  (St.  Albans)  will  be  found  at  No. 
103,  "Londinium  Augusta;"  thereby  shewing 
clearly  that  there  were  two  separate  and  distinct 


ANCIENT  ROADS  AND   WAYS.  83 

towns  or  settlements,  for  it  is  not  probable  that 
the  writer  would  name  the  same  town  twice.  It 
is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  Watling  Street  passed 
over  a  considerable  portion,  from  Hatcham  to 
Lambeth,  of  what  is  now  Surrey,  notwithstanding 
Ptolemy  stated  that  Londinium  belonged  to  the 
Cantii. 

The  Stane  Street  would  appear  to  be  the 
Way  second  in  importance  in  the  county ;  but  it 
may  be  assumed  that  it  is  not  so  ancient  as 
the  Watling  and  some  other  Ways ;  but  that  it 
was  an  entirely  new  way  made  by  the  Romans 
through  the  great  forest  to  shorten  the  distance 
of  Chichester  from  London.  It  enters  the 
county  near  Rowhook  (which  appears  to  have 
been  a  meeting  or  crossing  place  of  several  Ways) ; 
and  proceeding  very  straight  through  Ockley 
to  the  Holmwood,  near  Dorking,  it  turns  there, 
under  Anstey-bury  Camp,  towards  Dorking,  and 
runs  through  that  town  to  Burford  Bridge, 
which  would  also,  as  will  be  seen  later,  appear 
to  have  been  an  important  place  of  meeting  and 
crossing  of  roads ;  and  the  old  well-known  inn 
there  may  have  sheltered  both  Romans  of  old 
and  pilgrims  in  mediaival  times,  as  it  does  now 
all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men. 


84  BYGONE  SURREY. 

At  one  time  I  thought  this  Stane  Street  ran 
over  Epsom  Downs  to  Carshalton,  by  a  route 
explored  by  Mr.  Warne ;  but  in  consequence 
of  some  claim  made  a  few  years  since  for  the 
repair  of  a  piece  of  road  called  the  Homan  road, 
between  Epsom  and  Walton  Downs,  at  the  back 
of  Woodcot  House,  I  concluded  that  this  was  in 
fact  a  continuation  of  the  Stane  Street  to  Epsom 
and  Ewell,  where  Mr.  Warne  (missing  the  con- 
nection) professed,  no  doubt  correctly,  to  find  the 
Stane  Street  again ;  and  then  it  runs  on  in  a 
nearly  straight  line  by  Morden,  Tooting,  and 
Balham  to  London. 

From  Rowhook,  on  the  Stane  Street  just 
outside  of  Surrey,  a  Roman  road  to  Farley 
Heath  (Neomagus)  was  explored  by  Mr.  J. 
Park  Harrison  ;  and  is  fully  described  by  him  in 
Vol.  VI.  of  the  "  Surrey  Archssological  Col- 
lections," with  maps;  I  need  not  further  allude  to 
it ;  but  I  may  state  that  the  "  Leminge  Lane," 
which  appears  close  to  Rowhook  in  the  first 
map,  would  lead  directly  to  a  small  square  camp 
between  Rudgwick  and  Alfold,  which  appears  on 
the  six  inch  Ordnance  map  (sheet  xlvi.,  Surrey,) 
as  "  Broomhall  Copse."  This  camp  adjoins  a  road 
which  can    be  traced  from  a  round  camp   near 


ANCIENT  ROADS  AND    WAYS.  85 

Plaistow  in  Sussex,  past  Plaistow  Place,  an 
ancient  manor  house  of  the  Archbishops  of 
Canterbury,  over  Gennet's  Bridge,  by  Hook 
Street  and  Monkton  Hook  (a  Manor  Farm) 
and  Hill  House  (or  Moses  Place),  by  Furzen 
Lane  and  Oakwood  Hill  to  the  Stane  Street 
near  Ockley.  And  I  was  told  by  an  old  inn- 
keeper at  Rowhook,  some  forty  years  ago,  that 
he  had  helped  to  take  up  the  stones  of  several 
branches  of  road  from  that  place,  and  one  in 
particular  running  eastward  towards  Cradles  Farm, 
King's  Fold,  Friday  Street,  Rome  Farm,  and  in 
line  to  Charlewood  (and  a  portion  of  this  is  the 
county  boundary),  so  that  Rowhook  seems  to 
have  been  an  important  crossing  place. 

The  Devil's  Highway  is  the  name  (just 
outside  of  the  county)  of  a  portion  of  a  Way 
which  runs  through  a  corner  of  Surrey  from 
Staines  to  Duke's  Hill,  Bagshot,  and  was  surveyed 
and  mapped  by  the  students  at  Sandhurst 
College,  in  1836,  and  was  dignified  with  the  name 
of  the  "  Imperial  Way,"  but  upon  what  authority 
I  have  never  been  able  to  learn.  This  appears 
to  have  been  a  great  highway  from  London 
to  Bath,  passing  along  the  south  side  of  the 
Kennet  by  Bedwin  ;    but  the  students  somehow 


86  BYGONE  SURREY. 

mixed  it  up  with  the  Icknield  Way,  and  made  it 
cross  the  Kennet  into  the  upper  Bath  road ;  and 
their  survey  through  Silchester  was  really  of  only 
a  branch  way  ;  for  by  the  six  inch  Ordnance  map 
it  is  clear  that  the  Devil's  Highway  originally  ran 
straight  to  Abel  Bridge,  through  Wasing  Park ; 
but  when  Caer  Segont  was  made  a  Roman 
fortress  (now  called  Silchester),  a  branch  was 
made  out  of  the  highway,  past  Stratfield-Saye, 
into  the  new  fortress ;  and  then  out  again,  past 
the  Imp  Stone  (probably  a  Roman  mile-stone)  to 
Abel  Bridge  ;  and  this  is  what  was  surveyed  and 
mapped  by  the  students  as  part  of  the  "  Imperial 
Way."  The  Survey,  which  was  printed  in  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine,  and  probably  other 
publications,  would  give  the  best  information  as 
to  this  Way  through  this  county. 

It  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  a  branch  ran 
out  of  or  crossed  this  Way,  from  Caesar's  Camp,  past 
the  Military  College,  just  touching  this  county 
at  Blackwater  Bridge,  to  the  great  British  and 
Roman  city  of  Venta  Belgarum,  which,  I  insist, 
was  not  at  Winchester,  but  just  outside  of  this 
county,  at  Ewshot,  near  Caesar's  Camp  and 
Aldershot.  It  may  be  considered  as  certain  that 
there  would  be  a  road  of  communication  between 


ANCIENT  ROADS  AND   WAYS.  87 

these  two  camps,  and  it  is  surprising  that,  with  all 
the  railway  cuttings  that  have  been  made 
through  the  district,  it  has  not  been  hit  upon ; 
but  it  is  probable  that,  not  being  suspected,  it  may- 
have  been  cut  through  without  being  noticed 
by  the  navvies  and  gangers  as  anything 
remarkable. 

The  Pilgrims'  Way  requires  special  comment. 
As  regards  this  particular  Way  at  least  in  West 
Surrey,  everybody  wants  to  know,  but  nobody 
seems  to  know  much,  about  it.  It  appears  to 
have  been  satisfactorily  traced  as  far  westward  as 
Gatton  ;  but  from  inquiry  I  have  often  made,  of 
those  who  I  thought  likely  to  know,  as  to  its 
course  further  westward,  I  have  never  been  able 
to  obtain  any  more  satisfactory  answer  than  that 
it  ran  along  the  slopes  of  the  hills  ;  but  what  hills 
were  intended  by  this  I  never  could  learn,  nor  in 
fact  anything  more  definite  than  such  answers. 

I  imagine  that  Pilgrimages  to  Canterbury,  and 
other  places,  may  be  considered  to  have  been 
pleasant  summer  outings  (something  like  our  own 
Archaeological  excursions)  for  parties  of  devout 
persons,  and  others,  who  travelled  together  for 
companionship  to  the  places  of  pilgrimage ;  only 
they  did  not  travel  in  brakes  and  carriages,  but 


88  BYGONE  SURREY. 

mostly  on  horseback,  and  some  on  foot ;  and  the 
outing  was  not  merely  for  a  day,  or  two  or  three, 
but  for  perhaps  a  fortnight  or  more ;  and  upon 
the  authority  of  Chaucer,  very  pleasant  outings 
they  must  have  been. 

Now  if  what  is  known  as  the  "  Pilgrims' 
Way "  from  Gatton  through  Kent  be  examined, 
it  will  be  seen  that  it  consists  of  a  series  of 
ancient  roads  or  tracks  along  the  sides  of  the 
hills,  outside  of  the  great  forest  of  Andred,  from 
one  camp  to  another  of  the  ancient  Britons  or 
Romans,  in  the  line  to  and  as  far  as  Boxley 
Abbey,  and  that  the  last  stage  is  from  this 
Abbey  to  Canterbury.  This  gives  us  a  clue,  and 
on  the  principle  of  ex  uno  disce  omnes,  we  may 
infer  that  what  they  did  in  this  part  of  their 
journey  they  would  do  in  other  parts. 

Under  these  circumstances  I  must  state  my 
conviction  that  this  so  called  Way  exists  as  a 
single  way  not  much  further  west  than  Gatton, 
but  that  further  westwards  it  is  a  series  of 
branches  or  feeders  from  various  directions  which 
come  to  a  focus  in  mid  Surrey,  say  on  Boxhill, 
and  proceeded  thence  to  Canterbury,  in  the  one 
continuous  track  now  bearing  the  name,  and  it . 
may  be  fairly  opined  that  on  these  branches  or 


ANCIENT  ROADS  AND   WAYS.  89 

feeders  the  routes  taken  by  the  Pilgrims  were,  as 
in  Kent,  such  of  the  ancient  ways  or  tracl5:s  as 
happened  to  lead  from  one  religious  house  to 
another,  which  probably  were  then  some  of  the 
halting  places  or  houses  of  entertainment  on 
their  journeys. 

Mr.  Leveson-Gower,  in  a  paper  read  at  Gatton 
in  1879,  intimated  that  the  Pilgrims'  Way  led 
between  the  two  chief  towns  of  the  kingdom  at 
that  time,  viz.,  Winchester  and  Canterbury,  and 
also  entered  the  county  near  Farnham.  I  can 
quite  agree  with  both  of  these  statements 
(although  seemingl37-  contradictory)  if  it  be 
allowed  that  there  were  diiferent  branches  or 
feeders  of  the  Way  used  by  Pilgrims  coming  from 
different  parts  of  the  country ;  whether  from 
Exeter  and  the  west,  Salisbury,  Winchester, 
Bath,  or  Gloucester ;  each  would,  perhaps, 
require  a  distinct  branch,  if,  as  has  been  suggested, 
they  used  these  ancient  Ways,  made  by  the 
Romans  from  one  of  their  stations  or  camps,  to 
another  station  or  camp,  near  which  religious 
houses  existed  where  they  might  find  shelter  and 
entertainment. 

With  this  view  as  a  basis,  the  only  place  I 
have  ever  heard  of  as  the  track  of  the  Pilgrims' 


90  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Way  in  west  Surrey,  is  in  what  may  be  called 
the  Tyting  valley  near  Albury,  and  under  St. 
Martha's  Hill.  Therefore  taking  a  route  from 
the  west  side  of  the  county,  where  a  line  of  the 
Way  is  so  said  to  have  entered  it,  w^e  find 
Waverley  Abbey,  and  further  on  Puttenham 
Priory ;  and  between  these  two  we  find  the 
Roman  station  of  Hampton  Lodge.  We  may 
very  well  infer  that  there  would  be  a  military 
way  from  Alton  (Brigse)  to  Hampton  Lodge, 
which  would  furnish  a  route  for  the  Pilgrims ; 
and  the  ferry  at  St.  Catherine's  Hill  would 
furnish  a  direct  route  into  the  Tyting  Valley, 
where  the  Way  is  said  to  have  passed  along  ;  and 
thence  by  Weston  Street  up  the  hill  on  to  Netley 
Heath,  and  along  the  top  of  the  hill  to  Dorking ; 
or  an  alternative  route  might  be  under  the  hill 
by  Shere,  till  it  joined  the  branch  from  Win- 
chester next  described.  It  is  probable  that 
Tyting  was  a  small  religious  house. 

Another  branch,  and  probably  the  most 
important,  and  apparently  usually  considered  the 
main  line,  would  be  from  Winchester  before 
mentioned :  but  this  would  also  take  in  all  the 
country  behind  it,  as  Cornwall,  Devon,  Somerset, 
and  Wilts ;  and  also  the  foreign  pilgrims  arriving 


ANCIENT  ROADS  AND    WAYS.  91 

at  Poole  and  Southampton,  who  would  come  up 
to  Otterbourne  by  the  well  known  military  ways 
connected  with  those  ports,  and  proceed  either  to 
Winchester,  or  direct  to  Alresford,  by  the  way 
travelled  by  the  Emperor  Hadrian,  and  his  son- 
in-law  Antoninus  (afterwards  Emperor)  as 
is  set  out  in  Iter  XV.  of  the  Itinerary  of 
Antoninus. 

I  have  long  held  a  theory  that  from  Otter- 
bourne  there  was  a  direct  line  of  ancient  road 
(probably  British,  but  used  by  the  Romans) 
to  Woolmer  (Clausentum),  Farley  Heath 
(Neomagus),  and  on  to  Carshalton  and  Walling- 
ton  (Noviomagus)  ;  this  would  furnish  the 
Pilgrims  with  a  line  of  route  in  the  direction  of 
Canterbury.  I  do  not  find,  however,  on  this 
route,  more  than  one  religious  house,  namely 
Selborne  Priory,  but  there  is  evidently  a  con- 
tinuous series  of  roads  between  old  camps  of 
which  use  could  be  made. 

Starting  then  from  Winchester,  and  proceeding 
to  Alresford,  there  will  be  found  on  the  map  at 
East  Tisted,  a  place  called  "  Pilgrims'  Place," 
which  would  evidently  imply  the  Pilgrims'  route 
there,  and  proceeding  onwards  to  Selborne  Priory, 
and  past  the  site  of  Clausentum,  somewhere  near 


92  BYGONE  SURREY. 

the  Earl  of  Selborne's  seat  at  Blackmore,  the 
route  would  be  in  line  to  a  Roman  camp  called 
Beacon  Hill  above  Churt,  and  would  enter  Surrey 
about  Greyshot,  and  proceed  over  the  top  of 
Hindhead,  where  there  is  a  flat  surface  of  fine 
turf,  now  used  by  picnic  parties,  and  graced  by  a 
pillar  erected  by  the  late  Justice  Sir  William 
Erie,  where  I  can  imagine  the  Pilgrims  of  old 
would  make  a  halt,  and  also  hold  a  picnic  and 
enjoy  the  splendid  view  from  the  summit. 
Down  the  hill  and  outside  of  Witley  Park,*  and 
by  Sandal  Lane,  the  Way  would  run  on  to 
Hambledon  and  Hascombe,  where  there  is  a 
Roman  Camp  on  the  west  end  of  the  hill,  near 
Park  Hatch.  Probably  at  their  period,  and 
before  it  was  planted  with  fir  trees,  Hascombe 
Hill  was  covered  only  with  heath  and  brushwood, 
and  the  pilgrims  could  ride  along  the  top  of  it, 
and  enjoy  the  prospect  over  the  vast  forest  of  the 
Andred,  at  a  distance  of  about  six  miles  from  where 
I  am  now  writing.  Thence  it  would  proceed  up 
Wood  Hill  to  Farley  Heath  (the  site  of 
Neomagus),  and  forward  to  Abinger  and  Wotton, 
Westcot  Street  and  Milton   Street,   with  Bury 


*  This  park  was  the  domain    of   the  Duke  of  Clarence  who  was 
drowned  in  the  Butt  of  Malmsey. 


ANCIENT  ROADS  AND    WA  YS.  93 

Hill  and  the  Nower  alongside,  to  Dorking.     There 
is  a  "  Nore "  also  on   Haseomb  Hill,    whatever 
that  may  import.     Then  proceeding  up  Box  Hill, 
it  would  probably  join  the  military  road  at  the' 
top  of  it,  and  continue  along  it  to  Gatton. 

Another  branch  of  the  Pilgrims'  Way  I  can 
conceive  would  enter  the  county  from  the  direction 
of  Gloucester,  Oxford,  and  Reading.  There  was 
doubtless  a  military  way  from  Caleva  (near 
Reading)  to  Pontes  (Staines)  through  Windsor 
Forest,  which  would  run  in  the  direction  of  Chertsey 
Abbey,  and  consequently  lead  the  pilgrims  to 
take  that  route  in  their  way  to  Canterbury  ;  and 
a  way  would  probably  run  through  Addlestone 
past  St.  George's  Camp,  and  on  to  Cobham 
Street  and  Stoke  DAbernon,  and  via  the  two 
Bookhams  and  Effingham  (where  I  believe  was  an 
important  Romano-British  settlement)  over  the 
hill  to  Westhumble  Street  and  Burford.  The 
road  from  Burford  bridge  up  Boxhill  was  always 
called  by  my  father-in-law,  a  native  of  Dorking, 
"the  military  road  ; "  we  may  therefore  assume 
that  the  pilgrims  would  take  this  road  up  the 
hill,  and  at  the  top  of  it  all  the  branches  would 
apparently  unite  into  one  Way,  and  so  run  on 
over  Walton  Heath  (where  is  a  Roman  villa)  to 


94  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Gatton.     Whence  to  Titsey  at  the  border  of  the 
county  it  is  sufficiently  well  known. 

Here  I  may  refer  to  another  matter  connect- 
ed with  the  county.  The  great  camp  at  St. 
George's  Hill,  suggests  the  question  What  could 
be  the  use  of  such  a  large  inclosure  ?  and  my 
conviction  is  that  it  was  a  Camp  of  Refuge  for  the 
Rhemi  and  Bibroci,  who  seem,  as  before  said,  to 
have  dwelt  along  the  bank  of  the  Thames,  separ- 
ated perhaps  by  the  river  Wey.  It  is 
remarkable  how  often  we  find  large  camps  near 
the  borders  of  adjoining  tribes,  as  in  this  case ; 
another  is  at  Holwood  Hill,  between  the  Rhemi 
and  the  Cantse ;  another  at  Ightham  between  the 
Cantse  and  Regni ;  another  at  Caesar's  Camp, 
Aldershot,  between  the  Regni  and  Belgae ;  and 
still  another  at  Caesar's  Camp  near  Sandhurst, 
between  the  Bibroci  and  Attrebatii ;  but  the  most 
remarkable  example  of  a  Camp  of  Refuge  is 
perhaps  the  Pen  Pits  in  Somerset,  at  the  meeting 
of  the  Belgae,  Hedui,  and  Durotriges;  whereat  the 
time  of  Vespasian's  invasion,  all  the  population  of 
the  east  of  Britain,  would  appear  to  have  taken 
refuge,  and  far  exceeding  the  limits  of  the  camp, 
covered  700  acres  with  their  huts.  Csesar 
seems  to  intimate  something  like  this,  when  he 


ANCIENT  ROADS  AND   WAYS.  95 

describes  a  camp  to  which  the  Britons  retreated 
and  hid  themselves,  in  a  place  fortified  by  nature 
and  art,  which  it  would  appear  they  had  already 
prepared,  by  reason  of  some  domestic  war.  It  is 
admitted  that  the  pits  at  Whorlebury  are  hut- 
circles,  then  if  so  at  Whorlebury,  why  not  at 
Penselwood  ? 

The  following  are  other  probable  roads  in  East 
Surrey,  which  appears  to  have  been  the  territory 
of  the  Rhemi,  and  being  probably  under  direct 
Roman  sway,  consequently  had  more  attention 
paid  to  the  making  of  roads.  The  west  part  of 
Surrey  was  the  territory  of  the  Regni.  They 
were  probably  at  first  merely  military  communica- 
tions from  Noviomagus  to  outlying  camps  and 
garrisons  on  the  outskirts  of  the  great  forest ;  but 
some  of  them  afterwards  lengthened  through  the 
forest  to  the  sea  coast ;  and  perhaps  it  will  be 
most  convenient  to  trace  them  upwards  from  the 
coast,  viz.  : — 

A  road  out  of  Sussex,  perhaps  from  Pevensey, 
by  Hailsham,  Maresfield,  East  Grinstead  in  Sussex, 
through  Lingfield,  Blindley  Heath,  Godstone, 
Caterham,  Croydon,  and  Streatham  to  London. 
Streatham,  it  may  be  remarked,  appears  to  have 
been  a  general  meeting  place  of  roads. 


96  BYGONE  SURREY. 

A  road  from  Newhaven  by  Lewes,  Chailey, 
Lingfield,  and  Ardingly  in  Sussex,  by  Brewer 
Street,  Chaldon,  to  Wallington. 

Another  from  Newhaven  by  Kingston,  Plump- 
ton  to  Street,  and  from  Portslade  and  Patcham 
to  Street,  ran  by  Wivelsfield,  Balcombe,  and 
Worth,  in  Sussex,  by  Thundersfield  Castle,  Red 
Hill,  Linkfield  Street,  Gatton,  Woodmanstern, 
to  Carshalton. 

A  road  out  of  Kent  from  Tonbridge  or 
Edenbridge  by  Limpsfield,  Warlingham,  and 
Sanderstead  to  Croydon. 

If  it  be  asked  which  of  these  (if  either)  was 
the  south  end  of  Erming  Street,  I  should  be 
inclined  to  say  the  two  Ways  from  Newhaven  and 
Portslade,  joining  near  Street,  and  proceeding  by 
Wivelsfield  and  Worth  into  Surrey ;  because 
these  two  latter  places  (Wivelsfield  being  repre- 
sented by  Berts,  a  manor  in  that  parish)  are 
both  found  in  the  Domesday  Survey  as  places 
then  known  and  recognized  as  clearances  in  the 
great  forest ;  and  Thundersfield  Castle  would 
appear  to  be  a  very  evident  British  settlement, 
adopted  by  the  Romans  as  a  protective  station 
of  the  Rhemi  against  the  natives  of  the  great 
forest. 


JfolJi»»Xore  anb  Xocal  Cuetome. 

By  George  Clinch. 

THE  day  when  folk-lore  was  regarded  as 
trivial  and  unworthy  the  attention  of 
sober  historians  is  happily  past,  and  although 
it  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  subject  has  not 
fallen  to  an  abler  pen  than  mine,  it  will  not  be 
necessary,  probably,  to  offer  any  apology  for 
devoting  a  few  pages  of  this  volume  to  those 
ancient  superstitions  of  our  forefathers,  whose 
recital  had  the  effect  of  closing  up  the  circle 
around  the  cottage  fireside  on  a  winter's  evening, 
and  inspiring  the  rustic  hearers  with  strange  and 
fascinating  sensations  of  awe. 

In  a  county  such  as  Surrey,  possessed  of  an 
ancient  civilization  and  strongly  marked  physical 
features,  it  w^ould  be  remarkable  if  no  traces  of 
early  religions  and  superstitions  remained  in  place- 
names  and  local  traditions. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  in  the  place-names  of 
Surrey  we  have  some  most  interesting  traces 
of  the    worship    formerly    paid   to    Celtic    and 


98  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Scandinavian  deities,  although  almost  every  other 
indication  of  the  cult  has  long  since  perished. 
Sites  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Taith  are 
indicated  by  such  names  as  Toot  Hill,  Tooters 
Hill,  etc.,  and  Surrey  possesses  an  instance  of 
an  almost  identical  character  in  Tooting.  It  is  to 
be  observed,  however,  that  in  this  case  it  is  not  a 
hill,  or  a  single  site  which  bears  evidence  of 
the  Celtic  deity,  but  a  settlement  or  a  district 
inhabited  by  people  professing  that  ancient  faith, 
Of  the  worship  of  Odin,  or  Woden,  remarkably 
clear  evidence  is  afforded  by  such  names 
as  Woden  Hill  (Bagshot)  and  Wanborough, 
situated  under  the  north  slope  of  the  Hog's 
Back,  and  possessing  springs  which,  tradition 
states,  have  never  been  frozen.  Wandsworth, 
too,  derives  its  name  from  a  river  which  was 
probably  named  after  this  deity.  Thursley, 
Thundersfield,  and  Thunderhill,  serve  to  remind  us 
of  the  ancient  Scandinavian  Thor  and  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  form  of  his  name,  Thunor. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  three  singular 
mounds  on  Frensham  Common,  in  the  vicinity  of 
Thursley,  are  known  as  the  "  Devil's  Jumps," 
and  an  extraordinary  glen  in  the  same  neighbour- 
hood is  called  the  "  Devil's  Punchbowl."     In  the 


FOLK-LORE  AND  LOCAL  CUSTOMS.  99 

application  of  these  names  there  is  something 
pecuUarly  suggestive  of  the  ancient  Scandinavian 
legends  of  Thor's  gargantuan  exploits  in  lowering 
the  level  of  the  sea  itself  to  prove  the  extent  of 
his  bibulous  capabilities. 

In  many  parts  of  the  county  popular  tradition 
ascribes  to  Satanic  influence  works  which  do  not 
appear  at  first  sight  capable  of  easy  explanation. 
In  certain  cases,  for  instance,  where  an  ancient 
church  is  situated  at  some  distance  from  the 
village  street,  or  that  part  of  the  village  which  is 
most  thickly  populated,  a  favourite  explanation  of 
the  circumstance  is  that,  whilst  men  proposed  to 
build  their  church  near  their  houses,  the  Devil,  for 
some  sinister  purpose,  removed  their  work  to  a 
distance  during  the  night,  A  curious  tradition 
lingers  at  Guildford  relative  to  the  building  of  the 
chapels  of  St.  Martha  and  St.  Catherine.  Two 
sisters  are  credited  with  the  building  of  these  two 
edifices,  and  it  is  said  that  they  were  in  the  habit 
of  flinging  the  hammer  backwards  and  forwards 
to  each  other  as  they  required  it, 

Godstone,  in  Surrey,  like  Godshill,  Godstow, 
and  similarly-named  places  in  other  counties,  was 
probably  a  pagan  site  consecrated  to  Christian 
worship. 


100  .  BYGONE  SURREY. 

A  writer  in  The  Gentleman's  Magazine  of 
1782,  draws  attention  to  a  very  curious  custom 
which  flourished  about  the  middle  of  the 
eighteenth  century  at  Warlingham.  Early  in 
the  Spring,  the  boys  used  to  go  round  to  the 
several  orchards  in  the  parish,  and  whip  the  apple 
trees,  in  order  to  procure  a  plentiful  crop  of  fruit. 
After  that  they  carried  a  little  bag  to  the  house, 
where  the  good  woman  would  give  them  some 
oatmeal.  It  was  imagined  that  this  custom  had 
some  reference  to  the  rites  anciently  performed 
in  honour  of  Pomona. 

This  reminds  one  of  a  similar  custom  once 
prevalent  at  Keston  and  West  Wickham,  Kent, 
the  following  particulars  of  which  are  thus 
recorded  by  the  historian  Hasted.  In  Rogation 
Week,  about  Keston  and  West  Wickham,  "  a 
number  of  young  men  meet  together,  and  with  a 
hideous  noise  run  into  the  orchards,  and 
encircling  each  tree,  pronounce  these  words  : — ■ 

'  Stand  fast  root,  bear  well,  top, 
God  send  us  a  youling  sop  ! 
Every  twig,  apple  big  ! 
Every  bough,  apple  enough  ! ' 

For  which  incantation  the  confused  rabble 
expect  a  gratuity  in  money,  or  drink,  which  is  no 


FOLK-LORE  AND  LOCAL  CUSTOMS.  101 

less  welcome ;  but  if  they  are  disappointed  of 
both,  they  with  great  solemnity  anathematize  the 
owners  and  trees  with  altogether  as  insignificant 
a  curse.  It  seems  highly  probable  that  this 
custom  has  arisen  from  the  ancient  one  of 
perambulation  among  the  heathens,  when  they 
made  prayers  to  the  gods  for  the  use  and 
blessings  of  the  fruit  coming  up,  with  thanks- 
giving for  those  of  the  preceding  year,  and  as  the 
heathens  supplicated  ^olus,  god  of  the  winds, 
for  his  favourable  blasts,  so,  in  this  custom,  they 
still  retained  his  name,  with  a  very  small 
variation  ;  this  ceremony  is  called  youling,  and 
the  word  is  often  used  in  their  invocations." 

The  Churchwardens'  Accounts  at  Kingston- 
upon-Thames  contain  some  entries  which  relate 
to  a  now  obsolete  instrument  of  punishment  for 
scolds  and  unquiet  women.  Thus,  in  1572,  we 
read  that  "The  making  of  the  cucking-stool" 
cost  eight  shillings.  The  iron-work  for  the  same 
cost  three  shillings,  the  timber  seven  shillings 
and  sixpence,  and  three  brasses  and  three  wheels 
cost  four  shillings  and  tenpence.  The  stool 
appears  to  have  been  in  frequent  use,  as  there  are 
several  entries  of  money  paid  for  repairs. 

At  Walton-on-Thames  another  relic  of  barbar- 


102  BYGONE  SURREY. 

ous  times  still  exists,  preserved  in  the  vestry  of 
the  church.  This  is  a  "  Gossip's  Bridle,"  con- 
structed of  thin  iron  bands,  which  were  intended 
to  be  passed  over  the  head  and  padlocked  behind 
the  neck.  In  front  is  an  aperture  for  the  nose, 
and  below  it  a  tongue  of  iron  projects  inwards 
towards  the  mouth,  and  passing  over  the  tongue 
prevents  anything  except  a  gurgling  noise.  This 
iron  tongue  was  once  two  and  a  half  inches  in 
length,  but  owing  to  want  of  careful  preservation, 
it  has  been  much  corroded  by  rust. 

It  was  presented  to  the  town  in  1633  by  one 
who  is  said  to  have  lost  a  valuable  estate  through 
a  gossiping,  lying  woman.  It  bears  the  following 
halting  inscription  : — 

"  Chester  presents  Walton  with  a  bridle, 
To  curb  women's  tongues  that  talk  too  idle." 

This  barbarous  instrument  of  punishment, 
sometimes  called  a  "brank,"  is  by  no  means 
unique.  Mr.  Llewellynn  Jewitt,  in  an  interesting 
contribution  to  The  Reliquary  (Vol  I.)  on  the 
punishment  of  scolds,  mentions  upwards  of  thirty 
examples  of  the  brank,  still  preserved  in  various 
parts  of  the  kingdom.  The  example  at  Kingston 
is,  however,  one  of  the  earliest  specimens  of  its 
kind,  and  although  less  remarkable  in  form  than 


FOLK-LORE  AND  LOCAL  CUSTOMS. 


103 


others  which  could  be  named,  is  very  interesting 
on  account  of  its  dated  inscription. 

The  celebrated  case  of  fraud  associated  with 
the  name  of  Mary  Toft,  commonly  known  as  the 
"rabbet-breeder"  of  Godalming,  illustrates  in  a 
painfully    striking    manner    the    ignorance    and 


I'ORTRAn    <il     M\U\     l(U 


foolish  credulity  of  the  age  in  which  that  remark- 
able character  flourished. 

During  the  months  of  November  and  De- 
cember, 1726,  this  impudent  imposter  pretended 
to  give  birth  to  several  rabbits.  Mr.  John 
Hunter,   a  surgeon  of  Guildford,  supported  this 


104  BYGONE  SURREY. 

absurd  story  when  the  woman  was  examined, 
but  he  is  supposed  to  have  had  some  hand  in  the 
cheat.  Mr.  St.  Andrd,  the  King's  surgeon  and 
anatomist,  Sir  Richard  Manningham,  Dr. 
Douglas,  Dr.  Mowbray,  Mr.  Simborch,  and 
several  other  professional  men,  paid  some  atten- 
tion to  this  extraordinary  case,  and  probably  all 
were  more  or  less  taken  in  by  the  awkward 
deception. 

For  the  convenience  of  the  medical  gentlemen . 
who  attended  her,  Mary  Toft  was  removed  from 
Guildford  to  Lacy's  bagnio,  in  Leicester  Fields, 
London.  Suspicions  of  trickery  seem  to  have 
been  entertained  by  some,  however,  and  a  strict 
watch  was  kept,  with  the  result  that  all  was 
discovered.  Evidence  was  given  by  the  persons 
who  had  actually  supplied  the  rabbits,  and  the 
medical  authorities  who  at  one  time  believed  in 
the  fraud  became  the  laughing-stock  of  the 
neighbourhood. 

A  large  number  of  satirical  prints  and  poems 
were  issued  upon  the  occasion,  and  the  whole 
affair  seems  to  have  made  a  great  noise.  Mary 
Toft  was  placed  in  custody,  and  subjected  to  an 
examination  before  Sir  Thomas  Clarges,  but 
whether   she   received   any  punishment  for   her 


FOLK-LORE  AND  LOCAL  CUSTOMS.  105 

imposture  is  not  known.  She  appears,  however, 
to  have  got  into  trouble  again  later  on,  for  in  the 
Weekly  Miscellany,  for  April  19th,  1740,  we  read 
"  The  celebrated  Rabbit  woman  of  Godalmin,  in 
Surry,  was  committed  to  Guildford  Goal,  for 
receiving  stolen  goods." 

In  The  Gazetteer,  or  Daily  London  Advertiser, 
of  January  21st,  1764,  we  read,  "Last  week  died 
at  Godalmin,  in  Surrey,  Mary  Tofts,  formerly 
noted  for  an  imposition  of  breeding  rabbits." 

In  the  British  Museum  Library  (1178.  h.  4.) 
there  is  an  interesting  collection  of  tracts  and 
engravings  relating  to  the  case  of  Mary  Toft. 

In  the  curious  legends  which  are  associated 
with  Mother  Ludlam's  Cave  at  Moor  Park,  near 
Farnham,  we  have  a  partial  survival  of  the  belief 
in  witchcraft  which  was  once  so  general 
throughout  the  kingdom.  From  an  account 
penned  in  1773,  or  thereabout,  we  learn  that  the 
hole  or  cave  "  lies  half  way  down  the  west  side  of 
a  sandy  hill,  covered  with  wood,  towards  the 
southernmost  end  of  Moor  Park,  and  is  near 
three  miles  south  of  Farnham,  and  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  north-east  of  the  ruins  of 
Waverley  Abbey,  which  were,  when  standing, 
visible    from  it.     .     .     .     At  the  entrance  it  is 


106  BYGONE  SURREY. 

about  ei^ht  feet  high,  and  fourteen  or  fifteen 
broad,  but  decreases  in  height  and  breadth  till  it 
becomes  so  low  as  to  be  passable  only  by  a 
person  crawling  on  his  hands  and  knees ; 
farther  on  it  is  said  to  heighten.  Its  depth  is 
undoubtedly  considerable,  but  much  exaggerated 
by  the  fabulous  reports  of  the  common  people." 
The  view  here  reproduced  from  an  engraving 
after  a  drawing  made  in  1761,  shows  the  cave 
with  stone  benches  on  each  side,  and  a  small 
stream  of  water  running  across  the  floor,  which  is 
paved  with  stone. 

A  popular  tradition  is  to  the  efiect  that  this 
subterranean  cavity  once  formed  the  residence  of 
a  white  witch,  called  Mother  Ludlam,  or  Ludlow, 
who,  when  properly  invoked,  kindly  assisted  her 
poor  neighbours  in  their  necessities,  by  lending 
them  such  culinary  utensils  and  household 
furniture  as  they  wanted  for  particular  occasions. 
Anyone  who  wished  to  borrow  from  the  old 
witch  used  to  repair  to  the  cave  at  midnight, 
turn  round  three  times,  and  thrice  repeat  aloud, 
"  Pray,  good  Mother  Ludlam,  lend  me  such  a 
thing  (naming  the  utensil)  and  I  will  return  it 
within  two  days."  He  or  she  then  retired,  and 
coming  again  early  the  next  morning,  found  at 


FOLK-LORE  AND  LOCAL  CUSTOMS.  107 

the  entrance  the  requested  article.  This  con- 
venient system  of  borrowing  is  said  to  have 
continued  for  a  long  time,  until  upon  one  occasion 
a  person  not  returning  a  large  cauldron  within 
the  stipulated  period  according  to  promise, 
Mother  Ludlam  became  irritated,  and  refused  to 


MOTHliR    LUDLAM  S  CAVE. 


take  it  back  when  it  was  afterwards  left  in  the 
cavern.  From  that  time  to  this  she  has  not 
accommodated  anyone  with  the  most  trifling  loan. 
The  subsequent  history  of  the  cauldron, 
according  t6  legendary  tradition,  is  that  it  was 
carried  to  Waverley  Abbey,  and  after  the 
dissolution  of  that  house,  deposited  in   Frensham 


108  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Church.  A  large  vessel  of  hammered  copper 
is  still  preserved  at  that  church,  and  is  tradition- 
ally believed  to  be  the  very  one  which  Mother 
Ludlam  rejected.  Its  diameter  is  thirty-three 
inches,  and  its  depth  nineteen  and  a  half  inches  ; 
it  has  a  large  harfdle  on  each  side,  and  rests  upon 
a  three-legged  stand  of  wrought  iron.  Nathaniel 
Salmon,  in  his  Antiquities  of  Surrey,  published  in 
1736,  thus  speaks  of  this  ancient  cauldron  : — 
"  The  great  Cauldron  which  lay  in  the  Vestry . 
beyond  the  Memory  of  Man  was  no  more 
brought  thither  from  Waverley  than,  as  report 
goes,  by  the  Fairies.  It  need  not  raise  any 
man's  wonder  for  what  use  it  was,  there  having 
been  many  in  England  till  very  lately  to  be  seen, 
as  well  as  very  large  Spits  which  were  given  for 
entertainment  of  the  Parish,  at  the  Wedding  of 
poor  Maids.  So  was  in  some  places  a  Sum  of 
Money  charged  upon  Lands  for  them ;  and  a 
House  for  them  to  dwell  in  for  a  year  after 
Marriage." 

The  accompanying  illustration  has  been 
prepared  from  a  photograph  taken  by  Mr.  George 
E.  Langrish,  who  has  also  kindly  supplied 
dimensions  of  this  quaint  old  relic  of  bygone 
times  at  Frensham. 


FOLK-LORE  AND  LOCAL  CUSTOMS.  109 

The  tract  of  country  lying  between  Holmwood 
Common  and  Reigate,  is  supposed  to  have  been 
occupied  by  those  ancient  Britons  whom  the 
Romans  were  unable  to  drive  out.  It  afforded  a 
similar  retreat  to  the  Saxons  when  the  Danes 
ravaged  the  country  in  all  'directions.  The 
following  proverbial  distich  is   attributed  to  the 


CAULDRON  AT  FRENSHAM  CHURCH. 


inhabitants  of  the  neighbourhood,  in  connection 
with  these  circumstances,  by  Camden  : — 

"  The  Vale  of  Holmesdale, 
Never  wonne,  iie  never  shall." 

The  locality  derives  it  name  from  the  abundance 
of  holm  oak  which  grows  there,  and  among  which 
red    deer  flourished   until   a   late    date.     In   the 


110  BYGONE  SURREY. 

days  of  the  Duke  of  York,  who  afterwards 
became  James  II.,  some  of  the  largest  stags  ever 
seen  in  England  were  hunted  in  this  district. 

Hydon  Ball,  or  Highdown  Ball  as  it  is  some- 
times written,  the  highest  point  of  a  range  of 
hills  to  the  south  of  Godalming,  overlooking  the 
wealds  of  Surrey  and  Sussex,  has  a  curious  old 
rhyme  associated  with  it,  to  the  following 
effect : — 

"  On  Hydon's  top  there  is  a  cup, 
And  in  that  cup  there  is  a  drop, 
Take  up  the  cup  and  drink  the  drop. 
And  place  the  cup  on  Hydon's  top." 

The  exact  meaning  of  the  mystic  ceremony 
here  alluded  to  is  perhaps  for  ever  lost,  but 
it  seems  not  improbable  that  it  had  some 
reference  to  a  religious  rite,  and  probably  it  is  of 
great  antiquity. 

The  mock  ceremony  of  electing  a  Mayor  of 
Garrett  upon  the  meeting  of  every  new  Parlia- 
ment was  once  kept  up  with  considerable  spirit, 
but  it  died  out  before  the  end  of  the  last  century, 
the  last  election  taking  place  in  1796.  Foote's 
farce,  entitled  "The  Mayor  of  Garret,"  published 
in  1764,  probably  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with 
attracting    popular    attention     to     this,    absurd 


FOLK-LORE  AND  LOCAL  CUSTOMS. 


Ill 


custom,  which  took  place  at  what  was  then  a 
small  hamlet  situated  between  Wandsworth  and 
Tooting.  Brayley  tells  us  the  candidates  were 
generally  half  idiotic  and  deformed  persons,  who 
were     induced     to     accept     the     office     by    the 


SIR  JEFFREY   DUNSTAN. 


persuasion  of  the  publicans.  The  latter  provided 
gay  clothing  as  an  attraction,  with  a  view,  no 
doubt,  to  making  a  considerable  profit  out  of  the 
custom  which  the  day's  frolic  would  be  sure  to 
bring  to  their  houses. 


112  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Two  of  the  most  celebrated  mayors  were  Sir 
Jeffrey  Dunstan,  a  hawker  of  old  wigs,  and  Sir 
Harry  Dimsdale,  a  muffin-crier. 

The  tolling  of  the  "  pancake  bell  "  was  kept  up 
at  Dorking  every  Shrove  Tuesday  until  a  recent 
period,  and  as  late  as  the  year  1862,  if  not  more 
recently,  the  day  was  observed  by  many  ancient 
customs.  First  the  streets  were  perambulated 
by  the  football  retinue,  composed  of  grotesquely- 
dressed  persons,  to  the  sounds  of  music,  and  -the 
afternoon  was  devoted  to  the  kicking  of  the  ball 
up  and  down  the  chief  streets.  The  play  was 
often  rough,  and  sometimes,  as  the  afternoon 
advanced,  even  dangerous  to  the  limbs  of  the 
competitors. 

Palm  Sunday  was  formerly  an  important  day 
at  Crowhurst.  From  time  immemorial  a  fair  or 
wake  was  held  on  that  day  in  the  churchyard, 
liquors  were  sold,  and  excesses  frequently 
committed. 

Another  curious  custom,  and  one  which  bears 
the  mark  of  extreme  antiquity,  was  the  annual 
pilgrimage  of  all  youths,  maidens,  old  folks,  and 
children,  to  St.  Martha's  Hill  on  Good  Friday. 
Music  and  dancing  were  the  chief  amusements  in 
which  the  pilgrims  indulged,  and  the  meaning  of 


FOLK-LORE  AND  LOCAL  CUSTOMS. 


113 


the  festival  is  involved  in  great  obscurity,  but  it 
is  not  improbable  that  it  is  some  kind  of  survival 
of  an  early  religious  ceremony.  It  clearly  has  no 
reference  to  the  solemn  event  celebrated  upon 
Good  Friday  by  Christians. 

Michaelmas  Eve,  or  the  Sunday  evening  which 
preceded  it,  was  called  at  Kingston-on-Thames, 
"Crack  Nut  Sunday,"  from  the  curious  custom 


THE  "  scold's   bridle,"    WALTON-ON-THAMES. 

which  prevailed  among  the  congregation  of 
cracking  nuts  during  the  service  in  the  church. 
It  has  been  thought  probable  that  this  custom 
may  have  originated  from  the  usual  civic  feast 
attending  the  choosing  of  the  bailiff  and  other 
members  of  the  corporate  body  on  Michaelmas 
Day. 


Soutbwarl?  in  the  ©Iben  Eime. 

By  Mrs.  Edmund  Boger. 

WHEN,  more  than  half  a  century  before  the 
Christian  Era,  JuHus  Caesar  led  his 
legions  from  Deal,  by  some  route  answering  to 
the  Old  or  New  Kent  Road,  he  kept  on  the 
Surrey  side  of  the  river,  not  crossing  the  Thames 
till  he  came  to  Coway  Stakes,  near  Walton-on- 
Thames.  His  road  lay  through  forest  and  morass, 
and  so  gradual  was  the  transformation  from  forest 
scenery  to  woodlands,  parks,  and  pleasure  grounds, 
and  thence  to  mazes  of  bricks  and  mortar,  dismal 
alleys  and  densely  populated  courts,  that  only 
sixty  years  since,  cows  grazed  within  a  hundred 
yards  of  the  river  between  Southwark  and 
Blackfriars  Bridge  Roads. 

Ptolemy,  the  Geographer,  in  the  second  century 
avers  that  London  was  originally  built  on  the 
south  side  of  the  river,  but  this  seems  scarcely 
probable,  the  mistake,  however,  if  such  it  is,  shows 
at  least  the  importance  of  Southwark  at  that 
early  date.     Boadicea's  fierce  onslaught  on  the 


SOUTHWARK  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME.  115 

Romans  seems  to  have  led  to  its  first  material 
improvement,  those  who  escaped  the  massacre  fled 
over  the  river,  and  with  the  Romans  always  came 
progress  and  civilization.  Possibly  it  was  then 
that  the  river  was  embanked,  and  Bankside,  so 
famous  a  name  in  English  literature,  first  formed. 
Memorials  of  the  Roman  occupation  in  the 
shape  of  brass  rings,  pottery  and  coins,  sepulchral 
urns  and  tesserae  have  been  found  close  to  London 
Bridge,  in  the  precincts  of  St.  Saviour's,  which,  as 
we  are  writing  of  the  olden  time,  will  henceforth 
be  called  by  its  ancient  name  of  St.  Mary  Overie. 
The  name  Overie  is  of  course  of  the  same  origin 
as  Surrey  ;  it  signifies  over  the  river,  but  Bartholo- 
mew Linstead,  the  last  Prior,  told  a  tale  of  how 
the  Priory  was  built  by  Mary  Awdry  as  a 
religious  house  for  Sisters.  This  story  of 
Linstead's  becoming  somehow  connected  with  the 
stone  figure  of  a  skeleton  in  the  North  Transept 
(a  not  uncommon  memento  mori  monument),  an 
absurd  legend  was  devised  of  the  death  of  an  old 
miser  to  whom  the  Ferry  belonged,  and  the 
dedication  of  his  hoards  by  his  only  daughter, 
Mary,  to  the  founding  of  a  house  for  Sisters,  of 
which  she  herself,  absurdly  enough,  became  the 
Patron  Saint  1 


116  BYGONE  SURREY. 

However  originally  founded,  a  religious  house 
there  was,  close  to  Bankside  and  London 
Bridge,  in  the  days  of  Saint  Swithin,  Bishop  of 
Winchester,  852-862  (in  these  days  more  esteemed 
for  his  supposed  influence  on  the  weather  in  July 
and  August,  than  for  his  saintliness  and  manifold 
good  works),  he  changed  the  house  of  Sisters  into 
a  college  of  priests.  So  early  was  the  intimate 
connection  between  the  Bishops  of  Winchester 
and  South wark,  a  connection  which  lasted  more 
than  a  thousand  years !  This  College  of  Priests 
appears  to  have  erected  a  wooden  bridge  over  the 
river,  and  a  toll  was  probably  paid  for  its  use,  as 
well  as  the  Ferry. 

When  the  kings  of  Wessex  became  kings  of 
England,  the  traffic  would  be  naturally  increased 
over  the  one  connecting  link  between  the  opposite 
sides  of  the  river. 

On  the  north  and  south-east  ends  respectively  of 
London  Bridge,  are  the  churches  of  St.  Olave 
and  St.  Magnus,  father  and  son,  both  Kings  of 
Norway.  St.  Olave's  belongs  to  South  wark,  both 
locally  and  historically.  In  994  Olave,  or  Olaus, 
who  had  accompanied  Sweyn,  King  of  Denmark, 
in  a  raid  upon  England,  fell  under  good  influence, 
he  embraced  the  Christian  faith  and  was  baptized. 


SOUTHWARK  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME.  117 

In  1014  we  find  him  again  in  England,  but  this 
time  assisting  Ethelred  the  Unred  *  against  his 
former  alHes.  London  was  captured  by  the 
Danes,  he  assisted  Ethelred  to  retake  it,  breaking 
down  the  Bridge  by  some  contrivance  of  beams 
and  chains,  and  a  great  number  of  the  enemy 
were  drowned. 

In  1016  Canute's  fleet  sailed  up  the  Thames, 
but  some  obstacle,  probably  the  remains  of  the 
old  Bridge  and  Olave's  rude  engines,  round 
which  other  debris  would  collect,  prevented  his 
passage,  and  Canute  was  compelled  to  dig  a  canal 
on  the  south  side  before  he  could  place  his  ships 
on  the  western  end.  The  good  work  that  Olave 
did  for  England  was  not  forgotten,  and,  appropri- 
ately enough,  after  his  martyrdom  by  his  heathen 
subjects,  a  church  was  built  on  the  very  spot 
where  he  had  so  valiantly  assisted  the  English 
against  their  foes. 

Southwark  has  always  delighted  in  processions, 
the  first  was  also  unique  ;  it  was  the  translation 
of  the  body  of  Saint  Alphege  from  its  temporary 
resting  place  in  St.  Paul's,  to  Canterbury.  The 
Archbishop  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  the 
Danes  in  1011,  and  finding  that  he  refused  to  be 

*  Nay,  nob  wise  counsel,  but  want  of  counsel. 


118  BYGONE  SURREY. 

ransomed  by  his  impoverished  diocese,  they 
brought  him  out  at  a  feast  they  were  holding  at 
Greenwich.  "Gold,  Bishop,  give  us  gold,"  they 
shouted,  but  he  stedfastly  refused ;  then,  pelted 
with  bones  of  oxen  and  other  missiles,  he  fell 
down,  and  his  sufferings  were  ended  by  a  blow 
from  the  axe  of  a  man  Jie  had  lately  baptized. 
His  body  was  yielded  to  the  Bishops  of  London 
and  Dorchester.  Twenty-one  years  afterwards, 
Canterbury  demanded  the  body  of  their*  murdered 
Archbishop.  It  was  granted,  and  Canute  him- 
self steered  the  barge  on  which  it  was  conveyed 
from  St.  Paul's  to  South wark.  Here  he  was 
received  by  a  stately  procession,  consisting  of  his 
successor,  with  his  Suffragans  and  attendant  clergy. 
''  With  a  worshipful  band  and  sprightly  joy  they 
conveyed  him  to  Rochester.  Here  came  Emma 
the  Lady  *  and  her  young  son  Hardacanute,  and 
they  all  with  much  state  and  songs  of  praise  bore 
the  Holy  Archbishop  into  Canterbury."  t 

It  is  the  year  1052,  in  what  we  call  the  peace- 
ful days  of  the  Confessor  ;  yet,  strange  to  say,  an 
entirely  unique  and  warlike  pageant  was  witnessed 
from  Bankside.      Two  hostile  fleets   lay   within 

•  Widow  of  Ethelred,  and  wife  of  Canute. 
t  The  19th  of  April  in  our  calendar  is  dedicated  to  St.  Alphege. 


SOUTH  WARE  IF  THE  OLDEN  TIME.         119 

a  short  distance  of  each  other  in  the  Thames. 
Earl  Godwin  had  returned  from  banishment,  and 
was  with  his  fleet  off  Southwark,  where  he  had  a 
palace;  but,  says  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  *'his 
band  continually  diminished  the  longer  he  stayed." 
It  was  probably  this  fact  that  made  him  listen  to 
overtures  of  peace.  King  Edward's  fleet  of  fifty 
vessels  was  on  the  opposite  side  nearer  West- 
minster. So  peace  was  made,  for  the  armies 
would  not  fight  "English  against  English,"  and 
"great  folly  it  was  that  they  should  join  battle, 
because  all  that  was  most  noble  in  England  was 
in  the  two  armies." 

In  1066  when  three  kings  reigned  and  two 
battles  were  fought  on  English  soil,  our  Borough 
was  the  scene  of  much  that  went  on,  when  Harold 
posted  northwards  to  oppose  his  brother  Tosti 
and  the  King  of  Norway,  and  then  returned 
flushed  with  victory,  to  defeat  and  death  at 
Hastings.  Southwark  was  given  to  the  flames 
by  the  advanced  guard  of  the  conqueror's  army. 
St.  Mary  Overie  was  either  burned  in  the  fire, 
or  destroyed  by  a  hurricane  which  swept  away 
London  Bridge  in  1091. 

And  now  began  the  work  of  restoration. 
Alwyn  Childe,   a  Saxon  merchant,  led  the  way  ; 


120  BYGONE  SURREY. 

he  built  or  rebuilt  the  Abbey  of  St.  Saviour's 
at  Bermondsey.  The  name  of  Bermondsey 
is  probably  derived  from  that  of  some  Saxon 
noble,  and  the  termination  ey  or  eyot  stands 
for  island,  and  in  times  not  long  past,  Bermondsey 
was  a  land  of  eyots,  of  unsavoury  ditches, 
of  bridges,  etc.  St.  Saviour's  was  an  abbey 
complete  in  all  its  parts,  it  had  large  posses- 
sions granted  at  different  periods  by  kings, 
queens,  and  other  benefactors,  and  several  of 
the  bishops  and  abbots  who  came  to  London  to 
attend  Parliament  or  Convocation,  had  houses 
here  which  they  rented  from  the  Abbot  of 
Bermondsey.  In  many  cases  the  name  still  re- 
mains. A  Rochester  house  is  still  near  London 
Bridge.  Battle  Stairs  shows  where  the  Abbot 
of  Battle  took  to  his  barge ;  close  by  were 
houses  belonging  to  the  Abbots  of  Lewes,  St. 
Augustine's,  Canterbury,  and  Hyde.  One  can 
almost  trace  the  boundaries  of  Bermondsey  Abbey 
by  the  names  of  the  streets.  Grange  Road  marks 
the  farm  buildings.  Pickle  Herring  Street  the 
place  where  the  monks  cured  the  fish  against 
fasting  days.  One  Alan  Perrot  gave  an  acre  of 
land  and  6000  herrings  to  the  Abbey.  Does  this 
queerly    named  street   represent    Alan    Perrot's 


SOUTH WARK  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME.  121 

acre  ?  Bermondsey  Square  occupies  the  site  of 
the  principle  quadrangle.  Abbey  Street  marks 
the  position  of  the  Great  Church,  while  Long- 
walk  is  said  to  show  its  exact  length.  St. 
Saviour's  Dock  near  Tooley  Street,  once  belonged 
to  Bermondsey  Abbey,  while  St.  Mary  Overie's 
Dock  still  remains  close  to  what  was  St.  Mary 
Overie's  Church.*  The  quaint  conservatism  of 
their  names  shows  how  all  else  has  changed. 

The  chief  glory  of  St.  Saviour's,  Bermondsey, 
was  its  wonder-working  rood,  to  which  pilgrim- 
ages were  made  down  to  the  time  of  the 
Reformation.  It  was  brought,  so  the  legend 
says,  to  England  by  St.  Augustine,  and  it  or  an- 
other (for  there  were  several  roods  at  Bermondsey, 
in  fact  I  think  it  likely  that  they  were  used  as 
boundary  stones)  was  afterwards  fished  out  of  the 
Thames.  Crucifix  Lane  is  said  to  be  the  place 
where  Sir  Thomas  Pope,  himself  a  Bomanist,  set 
up  the  Rood  after  the  destruction  of  the  Abbey 
by  Henry  VIII.  How  Sir  Thomas  Pope  recon- 
ciled his  traffic  in  holy  things  with  his  principles, 

*  So  completely  has  Bermondsey  Abbey  passed  out  of  mind,  that 
Knight  in  his  history  of  London  adduces  a  story  of  one  Joan  Baker, 
who  in  1510,  expressed  her  regret  at  having  gone  on  pilgrimages  to 
St.  Saviour\<i,  as  showing  that  St.  Mary  Overie  had  already  changed  its 
name  before  the  Reformation.  St.  Saviour's  was  St.  Saviour's  of 
Bermondsey.     Pilgrimages  were  not  made  to  St.  Mary  Overie. 


122  BYGONE  SURREY. 

one  does  not  quite  see,  possibly  Trinity  College, 
Oxford,  was  founded  as  an  atonement. 

On  St.  Matthias's  day  in  the  year  1558  did 
the  Bishop  of  Rochester  preach  at  Paul's  Cross, 
and  the  Rood  of  "  St.  Saviour's,  Bermondsey,  was 
taken  down." 

To  return  to  earlier  times,  it  is  curious  to  note 
what  a  favourite  abode  of  female  Royalty  this 
Abbey  was  in  the  middle  ages.  Here  Mary  of 
Scotland,  wife  to  the  Count  of  Boulogne,  died. 
Her  daughter  Maude  was  probably  here  educated, 
Catherine  of  France,  widow  of  Henry  V.,  mother 
of  Henry  VI.,  and,  through  her  second  marriage, 
with  Owen  Tudor,  grandmother  to  Henry  VII., 
also  died  here,  and  here  in  poverty  and  neglect 
died  Elizabeth  Woodville,  Queen  of  Edward  IV., 
and  mother  of  Henry  VII.'s  Queen,  Elizabeth  of 
York. 

In  the  first  year  of  Henry  I.,  William  Gifford, 
Chancellor,  was  appointed  Bishop  of  Winchester. 
He  recognized  at  once  the  importance  of  South- 
wark  as  the  connecting  link  between  Winchester, 
the  capital  of  England,  and  the  great  port  of 
London,  and  built  a  palace  on  Bankside.  He 
formed  a  park  with  stately  trees,  terraces,  fish- 
ponds, etc.     Park  Street,  which  runs  parallel  to 


SOUTH  W ARK  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME.  123 

Bankside,  keeps  this  in  mind,  and  two  at  least  of 
the  trees  in  the  Bishop  of  Winchester's  Park 
remain  in  Messrs.  Potts,  Vinegar  Yard,  in  Summer 
Street,  which  was  called  after  a  late  bishop  of 
Winchester. 

Two  crusading  knights  now  appear  on  the  scene, 
William  de  Pont  de  L'Arche*  and  William 
Dauncy ;  in  connection  with  Bishop  GrifFord  they 
rebuilt  St.  Mary  Overie  on  its  present  lines  :  it  was 
a  fine  cruciform  church,  with  a  central  tower,  and 
the  architecture  of  the  choir  shows  exactly  the 
point  where  the  massive  Norman  was  passing  into 
the  graceful  early  English,  it  possesses  much  of  the 
peculiar  beauties  of  both.  Two  priors'  tombs  are 
in  the  north  wall  of  the  Choir  Aisle.  On  one  of 
these  is  placed  a  fine  wooden  figure  of  a  cross- 
legged  knight,  which  was  discovered  lying 
neglected  in  the  Church.  One  would  fain  believe 
it  represents  one  of  the  two  founders,  but  experts 
say  it  is  of  later  date,  and  prefer  rather  to  assign 
it  to  one  of  the  lords  of  Warrenne  and  Surrey, 
who  were  lords  of  Southwark.  It  may  be  so, 
but  Robert  of  Normandy's  tomb  in  Gloucester 
Cathedral  has  a  wooden  figure  of  the  Duke  upon 

*  Sir  W.  de  Pont  de  L'Arche  was  treasurer  to  Henry  I. ,  and  as  the 
royal  treasuries  were  still  kept  at  Winchester,  he  would  naturally  be 
in  constant  communication  with  the  Bishop. 


124  BYGONE  SURREY. 

it,  which  would  be  of  the  same  date  as  the  effigy 
of  one  of  these  knights. 

True  to  his  name,  Sir  William  de  Pont  de 
L'Arche  materially  assisted  also  in  the  rebuilding 
of  London  Bridge.  Successive  Bishops  of 
Winchester  vied  with  each  other  in  restoring: 
and  beautifying  the  ancient  church,  which  in 
truth  served  them  as  a  town  cathedral.  Peter 
des  'Roches,  Cardinal  Beaufort,  Bishop  Fox, 
and  Gower  the  poet,  were  among  its  benefactors. 
In  olden  times  it  possessed  three  chapels,  the 
eastern  one  was,  in  later  times,  called  the 
Bishop's  Chapel,  from  its  containing  the  tomb 
of  Bishop  Andrews,  but  it  must  have  been, 
one  would  suppose,  the  original  Lady  Chapel ; 
what  is  now  called  the  Lady  Chapel  being 
in  fact  the  retro-choir.  Another  chapel  was 
that  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  in  which  Gower 
was  originally  buried ;  the  third,  that  of  St. 
Mary  Magdalene,  was  the  Parish  Church.  When 
the  chapels  were  destroyed,  the  tombs  of  Gower 
and  Bishop  Andrews  were  removed  into  the 
church. 

Both  St.  Saviour's,  Bermondsey,  and  the  Priory 
of  St.  Mary  Qv^erie  had  schools  attached  to  them  : 
the  first.  Stow  affirms  to  be  the  one  mentioned 


SOUTH  WARE  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME.  125 

by  Fitz-Stephen  in  the  time  of  Henry  II.  as 
with  that  of  St  Paul's  and  Westminster  Abbey 
being  the  three  principal  schools  in  London. 
Both  St.  Saviour's  and  St.  Mary  Overie's  schools 
were  swept  away  at  the  destruction  of  the  mona- 
steries. St.  Mary's  Church  was  saved  by  Gardiner, 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  who  assisted  the  inhabitants 
to  buy  it  and  make  it  the  Parish  Church ;  in  con- 
sequence of  which  the  parishioners  were  their  own 
rector  and  the  chaplains  merely  their  nominees. 
This  objectionable  system  has  now  happily  been 
amended.  Southwark,  however,  had  taken  a 
Puritan  twist,  and  the  name  of  St.  Mary  Overie 
was  voted  Popish,  and  exchanged  for  that  of  St. 
Saviour,  Bermondsey  Abbey  having  disappeared. 
The  School  was  restored  and  endowed  by  the 
parishioners.  Shortly  afterwards  St.  Olave's 
followed  its  example  ;  the  two  schools  remain  to 
the  present  day. 

A  pillar  in  the  south  transept  has  upon  it 
a  cardinal's  hat  beneath  the  Beaufort  arms.  Of  all 
the  grand  ecclesiastical  functions  performed  in  this 
church,  none  is  more  interesting  than  the  marriage 
of  James  I.  of  Scotland,  the  Poet  King,  to  Joan 
Beaufort,  niece  of  the  Cardinal.  The  wedding 
feast  was  held  at  Winchester  House, 


126  BYGONE  SURREY. 

The  bridge  built  by  William  de  Pont  de  L'Arche 
was  burned  in  1136.  It  was  rebuilt  in  1176,  one 
Peter  of  Coleehureh,  grand  master  of  the  Free- 
masons, being  the  architect.  In  the  interval 
Becket's  murder  had  taken  place,  and  a  chapel  on 
the  centre  pier  of  the  east  side  of  the  new  bridge 
was  a  principal  feature,  it  was  dedicated  to  the 
lately-made  saint  and  martyr.  Peter  himself 
was  here  buried.  The  last  journey  Becket  ever 
took  had  been  to  Winchester  House,  to  confer 
with  the  aged  Bishop  of  Winchester,  Henry  of 
Blois,  who  in  his  day  had  been  as  great  a  stickler  for 
the  church's  privileges  as  himself.  A  mandate  from 
"the  young  king,"  Henry  II. 's  eldest  son,  made 
him  turn  for  the  last  time  from  "  the  city  of  his 
birth  to  that  of  his  death." 

In  1212,  St.  Mary  Overie  being  burned  down, 
the  canons  erected  a  temporary  lodging  on  the 
other  side  of  the  way,  but  when  they  were  able 
to  return  to  their  home,  the  hostel  or  hospitium 
was  found  so  convenient  for  the  reception  of  the 
retainers  of  their  many  visitors,  and  as  an 
infirmary  for  the  sick,  that,  dedicating  it  to  the 
memory  of  St.  Thomas  d,  Becket,  they  retained 
it.  Robert  the  abbot  or  prior  of  Bermondsey 
erected  in  1216  a  house  close  adjoining  for  the 

5 


SOUTH  W ARK  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME.  127 

use  "convei*sorum*  et  puerorum,"  which  also  was 
dedicated  in  the  name  of  St.  Thomas  a  Becket. 
This  was  called  the  Eleemosynary  or  Almonry,  t 
These  two  similar  foundations  were  incorporated 
by  Peter  des  Roches,  and  called  "  the  Spital  of 
St.  Thomas  the  Martyr  of  Canterbury."  St. 
Thomas's  Hospital  served  many  more  purposes 
than  we  now  understand  the  name  to  imply  ;  much 
of  both  useful  and  ornamental  art  work  was  here 
carried  on.  In  1527  the  contract  for  the  painted 
windows  of  King's  College,  Cambridge,  was  sign- 
ed by  James  Nycolson  of  St.  Thomas's  Spyttel  in 
South wark  ;  and  ten  years  later  the  first  entire 
English  bible  printed  in  England  is  inscribed 
"  Imprynted  in  South  wark,  in  St.  Thomas's 
Hospital,  by  James  Nycolson." 

In  spite  of  all  its  varied  good  works,  the 
Spital  of  St.  Thomas  shared  the  fate  of  the 
monasteries.  It  was  restored  to  somewhat  of  its 
former  use  by  Edward  VI.,  after  Ridley's  famous 
sermon,  but  the  name  must  be  altered,  for  had  not 
Becket's  tomb  been  destroyed  at  Canterbury,  and 

his  name  erased  from  our  prayer  book  ?     Trinity 

« 

*  Converts  from  the  world,  i.e.,  monks? 

t  The  name  after  the  manner  of  Southwark  names  was  corrupted  into 
Armoury.  The  site  is  now  occupied  by  the  printing  establishment  of 
Messrs,  M'Corquodale,  St.  Thomas's  Street, 


128  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Hospital,  and  King's,  in  compliment  to  Edward, 
were  tried,  but  the  people  did  not  take  kindly  to 
them,  so  by  an  odd  compromise  it  was  decided  to 
call  it  still  St.  Thomas's,  but  it  was  to  be  St. 
Thomas  the  Apostle  and  not  St.  Thomas  of 
Canterbury. 

And  now  to  speak  of  inns,  of  which  Southwark 
possessed  a  goodly  number.  Stowe  enumerates 
the  Spurre,  the  Christopher,  Bull,  Queene's  Head, 
Kinge's  Head,  Tabarde,  George,  and  White  Harte. 
The  last  three  retained  thirty  years  ago  somewhat 
of  their  ancient  appearance,  being  built  round  three 
sides  of  a  square  courtyard,  with  galleries  above, 
into  which  the  doors  and  windows  of  the  rooms 
opened.  Inns  served  in  olden  times  not  only  as 
hotels,  but  were  the  clubs,  the  music  halls,  the 
concert  rooms,  and  the  theatres  of  the  middle  ages. 
A  mere  fragment  of  the  George  Inn  is  now  all 
that  is  left. 

The  White  Harte  has  been  immortalized  by 
both  Shakespeare  and  Dickens.  The  Tabard,  the 
most  interesting  of  all,  might  have  been  spared ; 
it  represented,  if  not  the  birth,  at  least  the  coming 
of  age  of  English  literature.  As  a  national 
memorial  it  might  have  ranked  with  Shakespeare's 
birth-place,  for  there  it  was  that  Chaucer  from  its 


SOUTHWARK  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME.         129 

gallery  watched  the  arrival  of  that  typical  band 
of  pilgrims  he  has  so  marvellously  pourtrayed. 

It  was  in  April,  1383,  that  mine  host  of  the 
Tabard,  Harry  Bailly  by  name,  had  given  notice 
that  a  party  of  pilgrims  would  set  out  from  his 
inn.  He  is  well  described  by  Chaucer,  yet  strange 
to  say  we  know  more  of  him  than  Chaucer  tells 
us.  One  Henry  Fitz-Martin,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  III.,  was  by  letters  patent  constituted 
Bailiff  of  South wark,  and  Harry  Bailly  was  almost 
certainly  his  descendant ;  but  it  is  quite  certain  that 
he  twice  represented  the  Borough  in  Parliament ; 
in  the  fiftieth  year  of  Edward  III.,  1376,  at  West- 
minster, and  in  1378,  the  second  year  of  Richard 
II.,  at  Gloucester.  The  Tabard  Inn  had  some- 
thing: of  an  ecclesiastical  character.  An  Abbot 
of  Hyde  bought  the  site  in  1306.  He  built  the 
inn,  and  had  a  residence  for  himself  within  it ; 
in  1307  he  had  a  license  from  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester  for  a  chapel  at  his  hospitium. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  three 
greatest  achievements  in  English  literature,  the 
works  of  Chaucer  and  of  Shakespeare,  together 
with  the  unfettered  spread  of  the  English  Bible, 
are  inseparably  connected  with  Southwark. 

It   is  difficult  in  the    work-a-day   and   sordid 


130  BYGONE  SURREY. 

surroundings  of  Southwark  now,  to  realize  the 
times  when  there  were  elements  of  colour  and 
magnificence,  which  have  now  wholly  dis- 
appeared. 

Such  a  procession  as  the  entrance  of  the  Prince 
and  Princess  of  Wales,  in  1863,  into  London,  had 
certainly  not  been  seen  since  the  restoration  of 
Charles  II.,  but  was  in  the  middle  ages  of  constant 
occurrence.  During  the  brilliant  days  of  Edward 
III.,  armies  with  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance 
of  war  were  constantly  passing  and  re-passing 
through  Southwark  over  London  Bridge  into  the 
city,  which  then  formed  one  continuous  street,  as 
there  were  houses  on  both  sides  of  the  bridge. 
Best  known  of  all,  perhaps,  is  the  Black  Prince's 
return  from  Poictiers  when,  in  his  proud  humility, 
he  rode  on  a  small  palfrey  as  attendant  on  his 
captive,  King  John  of  France,  who  was  mounted 
on  a  magnificent  cream-coloured  charger. 

Three  times  did  Henry  V.  pass  through  our 
street  in  great  state  on  his  return  from  France, 
once  on  his  return  from  Agin  court,  with  his  train 
of  royal  and  princely  captives.  Again  after  the 
treaty  of  Troyes,  when  he  brought  with  him  his 
beautiful  but  insipid  bride,  Katherine  of  France, 
and  for  the  last  time  when  the  victor-lord  wag 


SOUTHWARK  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME.  131 

laid  low  in  death,  attended,  as  chief  mourner,  by 
his  captive  friend  James  I.,  King  of  Scotland. 

In  1555  the  Lady  Chapel  of  St.  Mary  Overie 
was  desecrated  by  the  condemnation  of  the 
Protestant  Martyrs  after  their  so-called  trial  by 
Bishop  Gardiner. 

Leaving  these  recollections,  we  must  hasten  to 
the  period  when  literature  reached  its  highest  de- 
velopment, and  became  connected  with  Bankside. 

It  was  in  1586  that  William  Shakespeare,  barely 
two-and-twenty,  but  already  the  father  of  three 
children,  was  driven  from  his  home  at  Stratford- 
upon-Avon,  to  try  his  fortune  in  Southwark. 
He  was  thrown  at  once  into  that  motley  group  of 
actors  and  authors  that  congregated  on  Bankside. 
The  Falcon  Inn,^  said  to  have  been  the  largest  in 
Surrey,  witnessed  many  of  the  wit  combats 
between  Ben  Jonson  and  Shakespeare ;  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  a  member  of  the  Mermaid  Club 
was  there  too.  Beaumont  and  Fletcher  those 
twin  authors  whose  house  was  on  the  bank, 
here  planned  out  their  plots.  In  Elizabeth's 
reign  England  is  said  to  have  been  a  nest  of  sing- 
ing birds,  and  on  Bankside  many  of  them  tried 


*  The  site,  for  years  occupied  by  Astley  Pellat's  glassworks,  is  now 
the  factory  for  Epps's  cocoa, 


132  BYGONE  SURREY. 

their  notes  and  pruned  their  wings  for  flight. 
Over  all  towered  the  mighty  genius  of  Shakes- 
peare, he  was  preserved,  by  his  home  affections 
and  his  unremitting  industry,  from  the  failures 
and  despair  of  others.  Green,  his  relation,  died 
miserably  in  a  wretched  lodging.  Marlowe,  the 
finest  dramatic  author  before  his  time,  perished  in 
a  tavern  brawl.  Massinger  was  found  dead  in 
his  bed  on  Bankside.  The  theatres  with  which 
Shakespeare's  name  are  associated  were  the  Rose, 
the  Hope,  the  Swan,  and  above  all  the  Globe. 
Of  these  the  Rose  alone  now  leaves  its  name  in 
Rose  Alley.  The  White  Bear  public  house,  close 
by,  is  said  to  mark  the  spot  where  Shakespeare 
lived.  The  Swan  was  larger  than  the  others, 
and  was  nearer  Paris  Gardens  and  Blackfriars. 

It  has  been  noticed  that  exquisite  as  Shake- 
speare's fancy  was,  marvellous  his  delineation  of 
character,  extraordinary  as  were  the  wisdom  of 
his  words  which  have  become  with  us  proverbial 
sayings,  yet,  in  originality  of  plot  he  was  wholly 
deficient,  so  that  with  one  exception  all  his  plays 
can  be  traced  to  earlier  ones  or  old  romances.  A 
curious  exemplification  of  this  is  his  character  of 
Prince  Henry,  afterwards  Henry  V.  The 
description  of  his  follies  is  known  to  have  been 


SOUTH  W ARK  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME.         133 

grossly  exaggerated  ;  his  life  having  been  remark- 
ably pure  and  stainless  ;  one  only  escapade  of  his 
which  would  give  the  smallest  foundation  for  his 
character  as  Madcap  Harry,  was  his  robbing  the 
royal  mails,  when  he  could  in  no  other  way  get 
the  arrears  of  the  income  which  belonged  to  him 
as  Prince  of  Wales.  The  fact  is,  that  at  the  very 
time  when  Shakespeare  was  living  in  Southwark, 
one  John  Popham,  a  barrister  by  profession,  was 
performing  the  very  same  wild  pranks,  associating 
with  the  same  dissolute  companions  as  he  repre- 
sents Prince  Henry  to  have  done.  The  tears  of 
his  wife,  and  the  birth  of  a  son,  are  said  to  have 
worked  a  reformation,  he  parted  with  his  boon 
companions  in  the  same  way  that  Shakespeare 
represents  the  Prince  doing,  and  became  in  due 
course  Sir  John  Popham,  and  Lord  Chief  Justice 
of  England.  This  coincidence  has,  as  far  as  I 
know,  not  before  been  noticed,  but  it  can  be 
substantiated  by  reference  to  Lord  Campbell's 
"  Lives  of  the  Chief  Justices." 

When  Beaumont  married,  Fletcher  still  con- 
tinued to  live  on  Bankside,  he  was  buried  at  St. 
Saviour's,  as  also  was  "  Philip  Massinger,"  "  a 
stranger,"  Edmund  Shakespeare,  a  brother  of  the 
poet,  and  Laurence  Fletcher,"  an  actor. 


134  BYGONE  SURREY. 

• 

Besides  the  theatres  were  enclosures  for  bull 
and  bear  baiting,  and  Queen  Elizabeth  visited 
Bankside,  with  the  French  Ambassador,  to  see 
what  Evelyn  a  hundred  years  later  called  "  this 
rude  and  dirty  pastime."  Plays  were  performed 
at  court  as  they  have  been  lately  before  our  own 
Queen.  Edward  Alleyne,  keeper  of  the  King's 
Bears  on  Bankside,  was  the  founder  of  the  college 
of  "  God's  gift "  at  Dulwich,  and  other  charities. 

Four  bishops  of  Winchester  have  found  at  St. 
Saviour's  their  last  resting-place.  Sandall  1319, 
Home  1581,  William  Wickham*  (not  William  of 
Wykeham)  who  only  lived  nine  months  after  he  was 
translated  from  Lincoln — a  stone  in  the  church- 
yard which  formerly  had  a  brass,  nearly  opposite 
the  door  into  the  south  aisle  of  the  choir,  is 
pointed  out  as  marking  his  burial  place  ;  but  the 
most  notable  is  Launcelot  Andrews,  one  of  the 
original  translators  of  the  bible ;  he  was  the  last 
Bishop  of  Winchester  who  lived  on  Bankside. 

In  the  possession  of  the  Marquis  of  Salisbury 
at  Hatfield,  is  a  picture — erroneously  said  to 
represent  Henry  VIII.  and  Anne  Boleyn  at  a 
country  wake  or  fair.     This,  however,  is  a  mistake, 

*  He  was  one  of  five  bishops  who  married  the  five  daughters  of 
Barlow,  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  the  first  married  bishop  after  the 
Reformation. 


SOUTH  WARK  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME.  135 

the  spot  is  Horslydown  in  Bermondsey,  as  its 
situation,  with  regard  to  the  Tower  of  London 
and  the  Thames,  shows.  The  sports  going  on  of 
archery  and  hawking — the  local  magnates  parad- 
ing in  front,  the  local  accessories,  costumes,  etc., 
make  it  a  most  interesting  scene.  At  the  right 
hand  corner  are  two  figures,  which  may  well 
represent  Ben  Jonson  and  William  Shakespeare, 
'*  taking  notes." 

The  manor  of  Paris  Gardens,  near  Blackfriars, 
once  belonged  to  one  Robert  of  Paris,  and  in  the 
middle  ages  was  a  favourite  resort  for  the  citizens 
of  London,  who  came  over  the  river  in  wherries 
or  boats  in  the  evening  for  air  and  relaxation. 
Between  these  and  the  Bishop  of  Winchester's 
Park,  was  a  place  of  ill-repute,  where  the  trees 
stood  so  thick  that  they  screened  malefactors  who 
had  fled  from  the  city,  and  the  place  was  render- 
ed still  more  unsavoury  by  an  order  in  the  time 
of  Richard  II.  that  the  garbage  and  refuse  from 
the  butchers'  shambles  should  be  thrown  here, 
into  the  ditches  which  had  been  cut  to  drain  away 
the  water  when  a  rise  of  the  Thames  threatened  to 
overflow  the  lands  of  South wark  and  Bermond- 
sey. 

There    could  be   much   found  to  say    on    the 


136  BYGONE  SURREY. 

prisons  of  Southwark,  especially  the  Marshalsea, 
so  connected  with  Dickens  both  in  fact  and  fiction. 
St.  Thomas  Waterings  would  have  many  a  ghastly 
tale  to  tell.  Penry — author  of  the  "  Marprelate 
Tracts  " — was  here  executed  with  circumstances  of 
great  brutality.  Others  there  were,  connected 
more  or  less  with  Southwark,  men  famous  or  in- 
famous in  their  time,  whose  names  one  can  barely 
mention.  Bishop  Bonner  and  Robert  Brown, 
Bunyan  and  Abraham  Newlands,  Sir  Christopher 
Wren  and  Dr.  Sacheverell,  etc.,  etc. 

John  Harvard,  was  the  son  of  a  butcher,  who, 
however,  was  a  man  of  substance  and  position. 
He  was  one  of  the  governors  of  St.  Saviour's 
School,  and  it  is  more  than  probable  therefore 
that  his  son  John  was  educated  there.  Thence 
he  proceeded  to  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge. 
Having  imbibed  Puritan  ideas  he  started  for 
the  new  world  in  1637,  became  interested  in  a 
foundation  for  "the  Education  of  English  and 
Indian  youth  in  Knowledge  and  in  Godliness," 
and  died  in  the  following  year  of  consumption ; 
bequeathing  his  library  and  half  his  property  to  it. 
In  memory  of  him  it  is  called  Harvard  College,* 


*  The  writer  had  the  pleasure  of  taking  Mr.  Justin   Winsor,  the 
librarian  of  Harvard,  over  St.  Saviour's  Church. 


SOUTH  WARE  IN  THE  OLDEN  TIME.  137 

and  the  township  of  Newtown  became  Cam- 
bridge, Massachussets.  Again  we  find  Htera- 
ture  connected  with  Southwark,  but  this  time 
she  is  handing  on  the  torch  to  another  hemisphere, 
to  a  new  world. 

Hogarth's  picture  of  Southwark  Fair  must 
close  the  account  of  Bygone  Southwark.  A 
quaint  description  of  it  in  verse  in  Dr. 
Tussler's  book,  "  Hogarth  Moralized,"  is  too  long 
to  be  inserted  here.  After  existing  for  several 
hundred  years  the  fair  was  put  an  end  to 
for  the  odd  reason  that  "  a  dreadful  earthquake 
in  Jamaica  was  profanely  and  ludicrously  repre- 
sented in  a  puppet  play,  or  some  such  lewd 
pastime."  Probably  the  fair  had  become  a 
nuisance,  and  this  excuse  was  as  good  as  any 
other. 

"Southwark  in  the  olden  time,"  is  our  subject, 
yet  before  drawing  this  sketch  to  an  end,  one 
picture  must  be  attempted  of  the  present  day, 
more  gorgeous  than  any  scene  in  the  olden  time. 
It  is  true  that  most  of  the  interest  of  Bankside 

I  lies  in  the  past ;  yet  it  lives  not  alone  in  its  mem- 
ories, but  has  a  present  beauty  and  glory  all  its 
own.  Only  let  any  lover  of  the  picturesque  and 
magnificent  in  art  and  nature  go  down  to  Bank- 
1 


138  BYGONE  SURREY. 

side  on  a  fine  summer  evening,  when  the  sounds 
of  labour  are  hushed,  and  the  barges  are  gliding 
slowly  past,  or  laid  up  for  the  night.  The  sun  as 
it  sinks  in  the  west  blazes  with  a  gorgeous  crim- 
son light ;  smoky  bands  of  vapour  cross  the  fiery 
ball ;  again  it  shines  out  in  golden  or  crimson 
splendour,  and  sends  long  streams  of  glittering 
sheen  across  the  water.  The  barges,  freshly 
painted  for  the  summer  in  green  and  red,  catch 
the  light,  and  the  rich  brown  sails  stand  out  against 
the  glittering  sky  ;  while  small  boats  shoot  across 
the  shining  track.  St.  Paul's  on  the  opposite 
shore  stands  out  with  a  strange  brightness 
against  the  northern  sky,  as  though  it  were  cut 
out  in  ivory,  and  under  the  arches  of  the  western 
bridges  the  river  seems  on  fire. 


By  S.  W.  Kershaw,  f.s.a. 

THE  rapid  growth  of  most  of  our  towns  can 
chiefly  be  traced  to  the  agencies  and 
institutions  of  the  middle  ao^es.  The  long-  and 
wasting  wars  of  the  Roses,  which  had  plunged 
England  into  distress,  were  subsiding — there  was 
a  new  spirit  abroad,  one  of  increased  security  and 
comfort,  and  also  of  commercial  enterprise. 
Under  these  conditions,  architecture  and  the 
allied  arts  came  into  great  prominence,  the  erection 
of  churches  was  followed  by  the  further 
development  of  domestic  buildings — the  houses 
of  the  nobles  were  rising  in  all  their  stately 
splendour,  while  schools  of  learning  were 
established  by  royal  and  pious  founders. 

More  or  less,  this  influence  was  felt  in  our 
towns — some  were  better  adapted  than  others  for 
this  progressive  action — the  cathedral  cities 
naturally  had  resources  denied  to  smaller  centres, 
but  each  and  all,  from  the  grim  and  fortified 
border    town,    to    the   humble    village    with    its 


140  BYGONE  SURREY. 

thatched  or  timbered  cottage,  spoke  of  the 
extending  movements  of  the  age. 

This  development  was  reached  to  a  certain 
extent  in  EHzabeth's  days,  when  comfort  and 
refinement  was  shown  in  the  altered  conditions 
of  life. 

The  gloomy  fortress  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
century  gave  place  to  the  graceful  Tudor 
mansion.  Brick  and  stone  were  freely  used  in 
building,  and  ornament,  both  in  carved  wood  and 
graceful  iron  work,  was  asserting  its  sway. 

Fantastic  gables  and  gilded  turrets  rose  to 
break  the  monotonous  line  of  many  an  ancient 
manor  house,  and  deftly  interwoven  in  the  angle 
or  balustrade  were  the  initials  or  device  of  the 
owner,  sometimes  hidden  under  a  strange  motto 
or  punning  rebus  on  his  name. 

Croydon,  the  border  town  of  the  great 
Surrey  and  Kentish  Weald,  which  stretched  from 
near  Ashford  in  one  county,  to  Reigate  in  the 
other,  claims  peculiar  interest  on  account  of  its 
long-worn  chronicle  of  church  and  state. 

In  Domesday,  we  read  Archbishop  Lanfranc 
held  Croydon.  The  manor,  except  during  two 
periods,  has  been  successively  in  the  possession  of 
the  See  of  Canterbury,  and  for  some  five  centuries 


MEDIAEVAL  CROYDON.  141 

the  Primates  have  made  Croydon  more  or  less 
their  residence,  identifying  their  name  with  the 
parish  church  and  its  annals,  with  several 
documents  signed  from  this  manor  or  dwelling 
house,  and  by  historical  events  which  have 
transpired  during  the  occupancy  of  their  ancient 
Surrey  home.  One  can  only  touch  on  the  remote 
annals  of  the  town — its  position  near  the  great 
Roman  roads,  and  the  remains  of  villas  and  coins 
in  the  immediate  neighbourhood,  all  of  which 
indicate  its  ancient  origin. 

We  are,  however,  concerned  with  the  far  later 
period  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries, 
when  one  saw  better  developed  those  buildings 
and  their  general  features,  which  specially 
characterised  mediaeval  times. 

Situated  on  the  border  of  the  great  North  wood 
(Norwood)  which  bounded  it  Londonwards, 
having  to  the  south  the  rising  Downs,  and  the 
distant  Wealden  forests,  Croydon  naturally 
afforded  an  advantageous  site,  ere  the  metropolis 
was  reached.  The  central  point  of  local  interest, 
and  even  of  human,  seems  to  have  clustered  round 
the  parish  church,  and  that  was  pre-eminently 
the  case  here.  For  after  the  early  building, 
mentioned  in  Domesday,  was  destroyed,  a  larger 


142  BYGONE  SURREY. 

structure  arose,  which  had  for  its  master-builders 
Stafford  and  Chichele,  Archbishops  of  Canter- 
bury, the  latter  of  whom  is  associated  with  the 
foundation  of  All  Souls',  Oxford,  with  the  erection 
of  the  so-called  Lollard's  Tower  at  Lambeth 
Palace,  and  received  his  education  at  the  famous 
Winchester  College,  founded  by  William  of 
Wykeham. 

The  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries  were  a 
great  building  age,  and  some  of  the  fairest  of  our 
minsters  and  churches  are  an  evidence  of  this 
wide  development,  for  the  lofty  towers,  the  grand 
western  windows,  the  canopied  shrines,  or 
sculptured  chantries,  displayed  the  skill  of  the 
artist,  and  the  munificence  of  the  donor.  Founded 
by  Archbishop  Courtenay,  the  old  parish  church 
partook  of  a  somewhat  mixed  character,  from  the 
early  Gothic  to  the  late  Perpendicular,  and  in  its 
onward  progress  enshrined  around  it  the  life 
work  of  more  than  one  of  the  Primates  of  the 
ancient  See  of  Canterbury.  Of  the  former 
structure,  little  remains  but  the  tower  and  the 
outer  walls,  for  a  destructive  fire  in  1867  reduced 
the  rest  to  a  ruin,  *  and  nearly  all  the  fine 
monuments    perished    in    the    flames.       In    the 

*  A  fine  mural  painting  of  St.  Christopher  also  perished  in  the  fire. 


MEDIjEYAL  CROYDON.  143 

memorials  to  Archbishops  Grindal,  Whitgift, 
and  Sheldon,  one  saw  illustrated  that  phase  of 
monumental  art,  which,  though  of  late  design,  is 
such  a  feature  of  many  church  interiors,  and  a 
very  biography  in  stone  or  marble  of  the  illustrious 
past. 

An  exact  re-production  of  the  e^gj  to  Whitgift, 
executed  in  1888,  enables  the  mediaeval  student 
to  picture  the  original,  rich  in  colour,  ornament, 
and  heraldic  device,  of  the  founder  of  Whitgift 
Hospital,  which  we  shall  presently  notice.  In 
this  church  many  consecrations  occurred  in  early 
times,  and  among  the  long  list  of  divines  may  be 
singled  out  the  names  of  Miles  Coverdale,  Bishop 
of  Exeter,  the  translator  into  English  of  the  first 
printed  Bible,  and  of  John  Scory,  Bishop  of 
Rochester,  who  assisted  at  the  consecration  of 
Matthew  Parker,  in  Lambeth  Palace  Chapel, 
in  1559.  From  the  old  church,  some  of  the 
brasses,  fragments  of  mouldings,  carved  brackets, 
and  other  relics,  have  been  saved,  and  these,  with 
the  registers,  dating  from  1538,  makes  it  indeed 
a  storehouse  of  ecclesiastical  lore.  From  the 
churchyard,  the  mellowed  brick  walls  of  the  old 
palace  look  down  upon  us,  and,  as  we  enter  the 
building  through  a  small  doorway,  we  are  hardly 


144  BYGONE  SURREY. 

prepared  for  a  long  historical  gossip  with  people 
and  scenes  whiph  have  helped  to  make  up  the 
annals  of  England. 

"  I  love  this  old  house,  and  am  very  desirous  of 
amusing  myself,  if  I  could  find  means  to  do  it, 
with  a  history  of  the  building."  So  wrote 
Archbishop  Herring  to  Dr.  Ducarel  in  1754,  about 
this  place,  then  called  '*  Croydon  House,"  in  those 
days,  and  long  before,  a  favourite  retreat  of  the 
Archbishops. 

The  manor  house  of  Croydon,  like  the  church, 
dates  from  an  early  period,  even  so  far  ago  as 
1273  ;  and  on  this,  their  country  abode,  some  of  the 
architect-Primates  bestowed  much  loving  care  and 
skill,  as  the  several  coats  of  arms  now  remaining 
in  the  great  hall  testify.  The  representation  of 
coat  armour  on  building  was  much  in  use  at  this 
time,  and  served  to  preserve  the  remembrance  of 
different  benefactors. 

Chief  among  these  were  Archbishops  Chichele, 
Arundel,  Stafford,  Bourchier  and  Cranmer,  and 
even  after  the  Commonwealth,  additions  and 
improvements  were  made  by  successive  occupants. 

The  apartments  have  been  much  altered  since 
the  days  when  royalty  came  with  trains  of 
nobles,    and    sagacious   statesmen    discussed   the 


MEDIjEVAL  CROYDON. 


145 


intricacies  of  government  and  national  policy. 
The  Great  Hall,  in  which  many  a  courtly  pageant 
was  held,  still  retains  its  fine  open  timber  roof, 
somewhat  like  that  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  and 
there  is  happily  enough  of  the  building  left  to 
realize  vividly  the  visit  of  Queen  Elizabeth,   in 


THE  GREAT  HALL,  CROYDON  I'ALACK. 


1573,  to  Archbishop  Parker,  her  valued  friend,  and 
once  chaplain  to  her  mother,  Ann  Boleyn.  In  1574, 
the  Primate  again  entertained  his  sovereign  with 
splendour,    and   among    that   brilliant    group    of 

courtiers  were,  Cecil,  Lord  Burleigh,  the  Earl  of 

10 


146  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Leicester,  and  Secretary  Walsingham,  names  long 
chronicled  in  English  annals.  Archbishop 
Cranmer  was  at  Croydon,  when  he  was  summoned 
to  attend  Henry  VIII.  at  his  palace  at  West- 
minster, but  ere  he  could  arrive  the  king  was 
speechless,  having  previously  uttered  the 
memorable  words,  "  I  will  see  no  one  but  Cranmer, 
and  not  him  yet."  The  aged  Prelate  Grindal, 
after  the  resignation  of  his  See,  lived  much  here, 
and  one  can  but  sympathize  with  him  in  the  harsh 
treatment  he  received   from  the  Queen,  on  the 


AUTOGRAPH  OF   ARCFTBISHOP   CRANMER. 


subject  of  the  "  Prophesy ings,"  and  the  loss  of  a 
faithful  friend  and  servant. 

All  the  rooms  of  "  Croydon  House  "  have  had 
their  varying  historical  interest,  and  in  the 
chapel  we  are  carried  back  in  thought  to  early 
times,  for  ordinations  and  consecrations  have 
taken  place  here  for  nearly  400  years,  and  the 
interior,  though  greatly  altered,  still  retains 
many  traces  of  the  past.  The  carved  bench  ends 
and  panellings  point  to  the  period  of  Laud  and 
Juxon,  the  latter  of  whom,   after  the  spoliation 


MEDIEVAL  CROYDON.  147 

of  the  chapel  during  the  Commonwealth,  sought 
to  repair  with  due  care  so  historic  a  fabric.      An 
ornamented     upper     pew,    rich    in    Tudoresque 
carvings,    is    said    to    have    been     that    which 
Queen    Elizabeth    used    when    a    visitor    here, 
and  was  approached  from  the  private  rooms  of 
the   palace.       The    "  Long  Gallery,"   that  indis- 
pensable adjunct  to  mediaeval  houses,  was  greatly 
altered    and    re-built    by     Archbishop     Wake ; 
in    1587,    we   read   that,    when  Sir  Christopher 
Hatton    was    appointed    Lord    Chancellor,    the 
Great   Seal    was    delivered   him    here.       These 
galleries  have,   from  their  situation,   often  been 
the  scene  of  stately  incident  or  homely  gossip, 
serving,  from  their  situation,  as  a  kind  of  ante- 
chamber to   the   more    private    apartments,    or 
to    the    larger    gatherings     in    the    Hall.       A 
somewhat  smaller  chamber  at  Croydon  was  the 
"  Guard  Room,"   probably  built  by  Archbishop 
Arundel   from   his  arms  appearing  prominently 
therein.      Round  and  outside  this  house  were  the 
gardens,    and    what     was     very     noticeable    the 
Vineyard.      In    old    times    grapes    were    much 
more  cultivated  than  now,   and  in  the  reign   of 
Edward  III.   wine  was,  by  statute,  to  be  tried 
twice    a   year,    at   Easter    and    at    Michaelmas. 


148 


BYGONE  SURREY. 


Ducarel  *  says  "  that  the  Church  of  Canterbury- 
was  plentifully  furnished  with  vines  at  St. 
Martin's,  Chartham,  and  Hollingbourne,  in 
Kent,"  at  the  period  above  mentioned.  A  large 
moat  and  fish  ponds,  fed  by  the  limpid  streams  of 
the  Wandle,  surrounded  the  house,  and  the 
neighbouring  woods    were   once   so   thick   as  to 


^*%!-5 


IHK  i;aik«av.  (kovdon  i-ai.ack. 


attract  the  notice  of  Lord  Chancellor  Bacon  when 
riding  in  that  direction.  Gone  are  all  these  fair 
surroundings,  even  the  archway,  which  once 
formed  part  of  the  gateway  lodge,  a  former 
approach  to  this  house.  The  keeper  of  this  manor 
house  enjoyed   his    office   by   patent    from    the 

*  "History  of  Croydon  Palace." 


MEDIEVAL  CEOYDON.  149 

Archbishop,  and  a  long  succession  of  these  worthy- 
guardians  appears  for  more  than  two  hundred  years. 
Those  buildings  which  are  left  have  a  picturesque 
charm  in  strong  contrast  to  the  modern  streets 
and  houses.  Should  we  not  then  proclaim  aloud 
the  words  of  a  modern  writer,  "  It  becomes  a  kind 
of  social  duty  to  preserve  such  wreckage  of  old 
things  as  the  tempest  of  change  has  left,  any  relics 
that  they  find  still  mouldering  in  the  flotsam  and 
jetsam  of  time.""* 

It  is  not  in  the  buildings  only,  but  in  the 
small  manors  and  lands  which  have  survived  in 
name,  though  divorced  from  their  ancient  owners, 
that  "  Mediaeval  Croydon  "  is  rich  in  the  past. 

The  chief  manor,  descending  from  the  times  of 
Lanfranc,  and  associated  with  the  See  of  Canter- 
bury, gathers  around  it  a  lengthened  history. 
On  two  occasions  only  has  it  been  disconnected 
with  the  Archbishopric — once  when  exchanged 
by  Cranmer  for  other  tenures,  and  again  by  its 
alienation  during  the  Commonwealth  period. 

Associated  with  this  manor  was  the  park,  or 
"  chase,"  presumably  a  hunting-ground,  to  which 
sport  even  Primates  were  addicted,  and  history 
never  forgets  to  recall  the  story  of  Archbishop 

*  F.  Harrison,  "Annals  of  Sutton  Place,  Surrey,^'  1893. 


150  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Abbot  and  of  the  keeper  whom  he  accidentally- 
shot  in  Bramshill  Park,  while  on  a  like 
expedition. 

Custodians  of  these  parks  were  regularly- 
appointed,  and  in  1352  we  read  of  the  famous 
Lord  Mayor  of  London,  Sir  William  Walworth, 
as  keeper  at  Croydon,  and  at  times  their  emolu- 
ment was  not  unsatisfactory,  having  a  lodge,  all 
the  small  wood,  the  bark  of  all  trees  felled,  with 
grass  for  two  cows,  and  the  grand  fee  of  twopence 
per  day.  The  name  of  Park  Hill,  close  to  the 
town,  keeps  in  memory  the  traditions  of  this 
"  chase." 

Other  and  smaller  manorial  estates  claim  our 
notice,  either  from  their  connection  with  Surrey 
worthies,  or  their  intimate  relation  with  local 
annals. 

Such  is  Norbury,  or  Northborough,  so  called 
from  its  position  north  of  the  town.  The  manor 
remained  with  the  Carews  of  Beddington  till  the 
attainder  of  Sir  Nicholas  Carew,  in  1539,  revert- 
ing to  Francis  Carew,  whose  entertainment  of 
Queen  Elizabeth  at  his  Surrey  mansion  was 
marked  by  courtier-like  elegance  and  display. 
So  far  did  this  reach,  that  "  he  kept  back  the 
ripening  of  cherries,  by  raising  a  tent  of  canvas 


MEDIjEVAL  CROYDON.  151 

over  the  tree,  withholding  the  sun  till  the  berries 
grew  large,  and  when  he  was  assured  of  her 
Majesty's  coming  he  removed  the  tent,  and  a  few 
sunny  days  brought  them  to  their  full  maturity.* 

Another  manor,  that  of  Haling,  was  let  on 
lease  in  1594  to  Lord  Howard  of  Effingham, 
Lord  High  Admiral,  whose  name  recalls  one  of 
the  heroes  of  the  Spanish  Armada ;  this  admiral 
died  there  in  1624. 

The  connection  of  the  Howard  family  with 
Effingham  in  Surrey  has  been  ably  treated  in  a 
paper  of  the  Surrey  Archaeological  Society,  by 
Mr.  G.  Leveson-Gower,  f.s.a. 

It  is  well  known  that  place-names  have  often 
had  a  remote  origin.  The  somewhat  ordinary  one 
of  Whitehorse,  or  Whitehouse  (still  surviving  in 
Whitehorse  Road)  recalls  the  fact  that  the  manor 
was  so  named  from  Walter  Whitehorse,  shield 
bearer  to  Edward  III.  t 

Waddon,  adjoining  Croydon,  is  another  manor, 
its  Saxon  name,  supposed  by  Dr.  Ducarel  to 
be  derived  from  Woden,  the  deity  formerly 
worshipped  there. 

Other    and    smaller    holdings    there    are,    of 

*    Sir  Hugh  Piatt's  Garden  of  Eden. 

t  The  manor  is  also  called  Bencham,  and  its  gabled  mansion  house 
was  north  of  the  town  towards  Norwood. 


152  BYGONE  SURREY. 

which  space  will  not  allow  a  description,  but 
each  and  all  have  had  their  share  in  making  the 
past  famous  and  significant. 

Local  names  round  Croydon  point  to  earlier 
than  mediaeval  times,  and  justify  its  remote  origin 
even  from  the  Roman  period.  Of  these  it  may 
be  mentioned  that  some  antiquaries  have  fixed 
the  neighbouring  Woodcote,  as  the  Noviomagus 
mentioned  in  the  itinerary  of  Antoninus,  and 
Scarbrook,  a  name  of  Saxon  days,  to  "scar," 
meaning  a  steep  or  craggy  hill,  and  "  broc,"  a 
running  water,  is  indicated  by  the  fine  spring 
that  issued  from  the  bottom  of  one  of  the  hilly 
sides  of  the  town. 

Some  roads  named  from  local  surroundings,  as 
Windmill  and  Cherry  Orchard  roads,  sufficiently 
illustrate  their  meaning,  and  we  hasten  on  to  the 
inns,  which  always  revealed  a  distinct  phase  of  a 
town's  history.  The  "Crown"  and  "King's 
Arms  "  both  tell  of  Royal  proclivities,  while  the 
"  Chequers  "  and  the  "  Swan,"  two  other  hostelries, 
have  been  identified  with  many  changeful 
incidents.  Crosses  were  often  placed  in  old  towns, 
and  here  there  were  anciently  four,  to  mark  the 
boundaries  of  certain  properties,  one  of  these 
formerly  stood  near  Handcross  Alley,  of  which 


MEDIMVAL  CROYDON.  153 

the  existing  Handcroft  Road  probably  preserves 
some  connection. 

Markets  and  fairs  were  characteristics  of  the 
past,  and  we  read  of  a  butter  market,  rebuilt 
by  Archbishop  Tenison  in  1708.  Croydon  Fair, 
not  so  long  abolished,  attracted  in  1622  no  less  a 
personage  than  Edward  Alleyn,  playwright,  and 
the  founder  of  Dulwich  College,  for  he  writes  at 
that  date,  *'  I  went  to  Croyden  fayre,  dined  with 
y*  Archbishop,  wher  ware  y*  Dean  off  Pauls,  and 
Sir  Ed.  Sackvile."* 

Like  Chester  and  other  ancient  towns,  there 
were  the  "  Rows "  at  Croydon,  and  "  Middle 
Row  "  exists  to  tell  its  tale  of  bygone  days,  when 
wares  of  all  sorts  were  displayed  in  bazaar- 
like fashion,  a  custom  no  doubt  of  eastern  origin. 

The  High  Street  in  olden  times  was  much 
lower  in  level  than  the  present  thoroughfare, 
and  extended  westwards  towards  Beddington. 
Steinman  remarks  in  his  history  it  "  was 
only  a  bridle  path  running  through  the  fields." 
The  houses  had  wooden  steps  to  them,  and  on  the 
rising  of  the  little  stream  at  Wandle,  people  had 
to  cross  on  planks.      The  inhabitants  in  general 


*  Diary    of    Edward    Alleyn,   edited   by    W.    Young,   History  of 
Dulwich  College  (May  1889). 


154  BYGONE  SURREY. 

were  smiths  and  colliers,  and  the  most  character- 
istic calling  was  that  of  the  charcoal  trade,  which, 
according  to  Ducarel  (the  local  antiquary), 
survived  down  to  1783,  for  he  writes,  "  Croydon  is 
surrounded  by  hills,  well  covered  with  wood, 
whereof  great  store  of  charcoal  is  made." 

That  this  was  a  much  earlier  occupation  is 
shown  by  the  sixteenth  century  writers, 
prominent  among  whom  was  Alexander  Barclay, 
who  died  at  Croydon  in  1522,  and  who  has 
recorded : — 

"  When  I  in  youth  in  Croidon  town  did  dwell, 
In  Croidon  I  heard  the  collier  preach."  * 

Other  mediaeval  authors  and  playwrights  have 
spoken  of  the  grimy  occupations  of  this  place,  for 
Greene,  in  his  "  Upstart  Courtier,"  has,  "  Marry," 
quoth  he,  "  that  looke  like  Lucifer,  though  I  am 
black,  I  am  not  the  divell,  but  a  collyer  of  Croydon." 

The  existing  Collier's  Water  Lane  indicates  a 
spot  where  the  colliers  and  charcoal  burners 
obtained  a  supply  of  water,  the  lane  leading 
directly  from  the  dense  forests  which  once 
surrounded  this  place. 

Richard  Crowley,  satirist  and  poet,  has  an 
epigram  on  the  colliers  of  Croydon.     The  woods, 

*  Steinman,  G.  S.,  "  History  of  Croydon,"  15.34. 


MEDIEVAL  CROYDON.  155 

almost  encircling  at  one  time  the  old  town,  must 
have  had  a  long  history,  surviving  in  many  names 
to  the  present  day,  as  Woodside,  Selhurst, 
Norwood,  etc.,  and  their  recesses  must  have 
afforded,  as  we  know  they  did,  fine  opportunity 
for  the  smuggler's  trade. 

Though  somewhat  later  than  the  period  we 
describe,  Croydon,  during  the  Civil  War,  affords 
a  vivid  picturte  of  that  loyalty  for  which  Surrey 
was  famous,  and  the  town  appears  to  have  been  a 
centre  for  the  passing  to  and  fro  of  the 
parliamentary  armies.  Sterborough  Castle,  on 
the  Sussex  border,  surrounded  by  a  moat,  was  a 
great  stronghold,  and  with  Farnham  on  the 
Hampshire  side,  supplied  reinforcements  which 
at  one  time  or  another  came  through  this  town, 
in  1647  the  head-quarters  of  General  Fairfax.* 

The  devastating  power  of  these  wars  on  our 
historical  buildings  was  dire  indeed,  a  fact  noticed 
by  the  State  papers  of  the  day,  which  mention 
"since  the  introduction  of  railways,  no  events  had 
wrought  so  great  a  change  in  rural  England,  as 
on  the  feudal  seats  of  the  nobility  and  gentry, 
during  the  Civil  Wars."     Though  we  have  lost 

*  The  recent  work  of  Edna  Lyall,  "To  right  the  wrong,"  a  tale  of 
the  Civil  War,  describes  many  of  the  Surrey  fortified  spots  and 
ancient  roads. 


156  BYGONE  SURREY. 

several     of     such      memorials,      some      remain, 
shewing  that : — 

"  Time  had  hallowed  into  beauty  many  a  tower, 
Which,  when  it  frowned  with  all  its  battlements, 
Was  very  terrible." 

That  pious  foundations  were  not  wanting  to 
mark  one  of  those  special  characteristics  of 
mediaeval  history,  is  seen  in  Archbishop  Whitgift's 
Hospital,  founded  in  1597,  and  having  for  its 
motto  over  the  entrance  gateway,  **  Qui  dat 
pauperi  non  indigebit."  The  mellowed  brick  of 
this  ancient  building,  with  its  gabled  front  and 
inner  quadrangle,  bespeaks  almost  to-day  the 
Croydon  of  300  years  ago,  and  is  a  choice  bit  of 
antiquity  left,  and  long  may  it  remain. 

Its  dedication  to  the  Trinity  is  endorsed  by 
the  lines  underneath  the  portrait  of  its  founder, 
now  in  the  hall  of  the  Whitgift  School. 

"  A  striking  portrait  of  this  Primate  see. 
Who  built  the  chapel  to  the  Holy  Three." 

John  Whitgift,  Archbishop  from  1583-1604, 
lived  during  some  of  the  most  momentous  times 
of  England's  history, — descended  from  an  ancient 
Yorkshire  family,  he  was  educated  at  Peterhouse, 
Cambridge,  of  which  he  became  a  Fellow,  after- 
wards Lady  Margaret  Professor  of  Divinity,  and 


MEDIEVAL  CROYDON.  157 

in  1567  master  of  Pembroke  Hall,  and  in  1570  of 
Trinity  College.  His  preferments  were  rapid,  from 
Chaplain  to  the  Queen  he  was  made  Dean  of 
Lincoln,  then  Bishop  of  that  See,  and  on  the 
death  of  Archbishop  Grindal,  Primate  of  all 
England.  He  lived  to  witness  the  death  of  his 
queen  in  1603,  to  place  the  crown  on  James  I.  in 
Westminster  Abbey,  and  to  see  the  opening  of 
the  Hampton  Court  conference  in  1604.  That 
king,  however,  whom  he  had  so  recently  crowned, 
was  soon  present  with  the  aged  Primate,  who 
in  his  last  moments  exclaimed,  "  Pro  ecclesia 
Dei,  pro  ecclesia  Dei." 

His  excellence  in  preaching  was  so  great,  and 
the  queen  was  so  pleased  with  his  discourse  and 
manner,  as  facetiously  to  call  him  her  "  White 
gift.''  His  close  friendship  with  the  statesmen 
of  the  day,  Burleigh,  Sir  Christopher  Hatton, 
and  others,  brought  him  into  contact  wdth  many 
state  affairs,  while  it  is  well  known  that  he  received 
from  learned  foreigners,  especially  Beza, 
expressions  of  gratitude  and  respect  for  the 
sympathy  he  had  shown  to  several  of  their  exiled 
brethren  for  religion's  sake.  His  entertainments 
at  Lambeth,  Canterbury,  and  Croydon,  were 
sumptuous  and  on  a   grand  scale,  keeping  open 


158 


BYGONE  SURREY. 


house  at  Christmas,  and  entertaining  his  sovereign 
in  many  of  her  progresses  with  great  splendour. 
It  was,  however,  at  Croydon,  to  which  place  the 
Archbishop  was  specially  attached,  that  he 
erected  the  building  with  which  his  name  is 
inseparably  connected. 

Begun  in  1596,  in  little  more  than  three  years 


NORTH    END  AND   WHlTOIhT    nOSI'ITAL,    CROYDON. 

the  hospital  was  finished,  the  materials  having 
been  brought  from  the  adjoining  neighbourhood, 
most  of  the  timber  from  Lingfield  and  Norwood, 
the  bricks  from  Epsom  and  Streatham,  and  the 
sand  from  Duppas  Hill.  The  building  accounts 
give  an  interesting  idea  of,  the  expenditure  and 
work  of  those  days.      The   statutes,    framed    by 


MEDIEVAL  CROYDON.  159 

the  Archbishop,  were  ordered  to  be  openly  read 
in  the  chapel  of  the  hospital,  and  a  periodical 
visitation  formerly  took  place. 

The  quadrangle,  almost  like  a  college  enclosure, 
is  surrounded  by  the  hall,  the  chapel,  and  the 
warden's  room,  together  with  several  apartments 
for  the  pensioners.  Old  glass  and  panelled  wood- 
work vie  with  each  other  in  charming  colour  and 
excellence,  and  heraldic  devices  peep  out  from 
many  a  corner  window,  or  carved  mantel,  ampng 
which  the  arms  of  the  See  of  Canterbury  occupy 
an  important  place.  The  chapel  has  its  distinctive 
features,  in  the  quaint  fittings  and  the  fine  oak 
wainscot,  and  no  less  has  the  common  or  dining- 
room  many  an  interesting  relic. 

One  of  Dr.  Whito^ifb's  traits  of  character  is 
related  in  Isaac  Walton's  life  of  Hooker, 
"  Whenever  the  queen  descended  to  that  lowliness 
to  dine  with  him  at  Lambeth,  he  would  usually 
the  next  day  shew  the  like  lowliness  to  his  poor 
brothers  and  sisters  at  Croydon,  and  dine  with 
them  at  his  hospital  at  Croydon."  The  same 
Archbishop  here  received  in  his  own  apartments 
the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  Lord  Zouch,  the  Bishop 
of  London,  and  others  of  exalted  rank. 

It   is   somewhat   sinofular  that   the    Primate's 


160  BYGONE  SURREY. 

successor,  Dr.  Abbot,  should  have  founded  a 
similar  hospital  at  Guildford,  so  that  two  of  the 
important  Surrey  towns  possess  buildings  which 
are  of  an  extremely  interesting  character ; 
other  examples  are.  Ford's  Hospital  near 
Coventry,  St.  Cross  near  Winchester,  and  St. 
John's  Hospital,  Northampton. 

Besides  the  external  quaintness  of  Whitgift's 
Hospital,  there  are  many  documentary  relics 
which  illustrate  the  annals  of  the  institution,  such 
as  the  Common  Seal,  bearing  the  story  of  Dives 
and  Lazarus,  the  statutes  which  were  ordered  to 
be  read  in  the  chapel  of  the  building,  besides  a 
great  number  of  Court  Rolls,  deeds,  and  indentures 
as  to  property  and  persons.  All  these,  by  the  care 
of  the  governors,  have  recently  been  put  in 
excellent  order.  The  alms  box  placed  within 
the  gateway  entrance,  has  clasps  and  hinges  of 
ancient  fashion,  and  mention  must  be  made  of  the 
old  oaken  chests,  the  carved  mantel  in  the 
warden's  room,  the  curious  mazer  bowls,  and  the 
different  pieces  of  stained  glass  (some  with  the 
arms  of  Queen  Elizabeth)  which  throw  an 
old-world  charm  over  this  picture  of  "  Bygone 
Surrey." 

The  modern  Grammar  School,  the  free  school 


MEDIjEVAL  CROYDON. 


161 


of  Whitgift's  foundation,  contains  an  excellent 
portrait  of  that  Archbishop,  and  though  the 
benefits  of  this  institution  are  greatly  enlarged 
since  the  days  when  the  teaching  was  carried  on 
in  the  old  school  house,  the  founder's  intentions 
are  carried  out  with  fitting  care  and  liberality. 
Ellis  Davy,  citizen  and  mercer  of  London,  and 


CROYDON  PALACE. 


founder,  in  1449,  of  the  Alms  House  which  bears 
his  name,  is  another  link  with  Croydon  of  the  past. 
This  religious  and  charitable  establishment, 
whose  original  statutes  are  preserved  in  Arch- 
bishop Morton's  register  at  Lambeth,  survives 
(though  rebuilt)  to  this  day,  and  afibrds  another 
instance   of    the   rise  of   such   institutions,    as   a 

distinct  phase  of  mediaeval  life. 

11 


162  BYGONE  SURREY. 

The  Masters  and  Wardens  of  the  Mercers' 
Company  were  overseers  of  the  almshouse, 
whose  benefactor — Elye  Davy — is  also  commem- 
orated by  a  memorial  plate  in  the  adjoining  parish 
church. 

For  the  advanced  light  that  has  been  thrown 
on  our  old  towns,  their  institutions  and  annals, 
through  the  publication  of  parish  registers, 
capying  inscriptions,  replacing  of  monuments  to 
their  original  site,  and  a  better  disposition  to 
respect  ancient  remains,  we  cannot  be  too  thankful ; 
at  the  same  time,  this  movement  ought  to  influence 
all  those  who  are  responsible  for  the  preservation 
of  our  local  memorials  to  be  more  jealous  of  the 
rights  they  are  hound  as  citizens  to  exercise. 

The  late.Dean  Stanley  *  once  said,  "  The  time  is 
come  when  a  spirit  prevails  of  juster  appreciation 
of  the  past.  It  has  grown  up  at  the  very  moment 
when,  but  for  it,  every  relic  of  antiquity  would 
have  disappeared ;  ...  we  may  be  able  to  hand 
down  to  future  generations  the  gifts  and 
inheritances  we  have  received  from  generations 
of  old." 

*  Address,  Kent  Archaeological  Society,  1858. 


Manborougb. 

By  Lady  West. 

IF  a  horseman  cantering  on  the  deliciously 
springy  turf  which  stretches  for  ten  miles 
by  the  side  of  the  old  Roman  road  leading  from 
Guildford  (Tennyson's  Astolat)  to  Farnham, 
along  the  top  of  the  "Hog's  Back,"  should  draw 
rein  to  breathe  his  horse  about  half-way  between 
those  towns,  and  turning  from  the  well-known 
view  of  Hind  Head  and  the  Devil's  Jumps  on 
his  left,  look  at  the  wide-stretching  prospect  on 
his  right,  he  would  see  beneath  him,  nestling 
among  trees,  almost  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  a 
collection  of  picturesque  roofs — the  little  village, 
church,  and  manor  house  of  Wanborough. 
Although  Green,  in  his  "  Making  of  England,'^ 
quoting  probably  from  Kemble's  ''Saxons  in 
England,''  says  of  it,  that  '*it  has  in  all 
probability  been  a  sacred  site  for  every  form  of 
religion  which  has  been  received  into  Britain, 
and  derives  its  name  of  Wodensborough  from  its 
dedication  to  the  grim  old  Saxon  deity  Woden," 


164 


BYGONE  SURREY. 


as  "the  famous  springs  of  water  at  Wanborough 
are  peculiarly  pure,  and  never  freeze  "  (Kemble), 
some  antiquaries  think  the  name  may  be 
derived  from  the  word  water,  or  Woden. 

The  manor  was  given  by  William  the 
Conqueror  to  Sir  Geoffrey  de  Mandeville,  or 
Magnaville,  and  is  mentioned  in  Doomsday  as 
the  property  of  his  namesake  and  grandson,  the 
turbulent     and    ambitious    Earl    of    Essex,    of 


WANBOROirOH,     FROM    THE     HOO  8     BACK. 

(Pen  and  ink  sketch  by  Lady  West.) 


Stephen's  time,  who,  tempted  by  extravagant 
grants,  deserted  the  king,  and  joined  the  party 
of  the  Empress  Maud. 

At  the  head  of  a  considerable  army  he  laid 
waste  the  royal  domains,  sacked  the  town  of 
Cambridge,  and  committed  the  most  sacrilegious 
excesses  at  Ramsey  Abbey,  for  which  impiety 
he  was  excommunicated. 


WANBOROUGH.  165 

Receivinof  his  death  wound  at  the  siesre  of  the 
Royal  Castle  of  Burnwell,  he  repented  of  his  evil 
deeds,  but  sought  in  vain  for  ecclesiastical  aid  and 
benediction.  At  this  juncture  some  Knights 
Templars  took  him  under  their  protection,  and 
after  his  death  conveyed  his  body  to  the  old 
Temple  in  London,  but  fearing  to  give  him 
Christian  burial,  put  the  body  in  lead,  and  hung 
it  in  an  apple  tree. 

Some  years  later,  his  absolution  having  been 
procured,  they  buried  him  in  the  porch  of  the  new 
Temple  Church,  before  the  west  door. 

The  Q^^Y  is  believed  to  be  the  only  example  of 
a  monument  with  the  tall  cylindrical  flat-topped 
helmet  over  the  hood  of  mail. 

Gough  describes  the  shield  as  the  earliest 
example  known  of  sculptured  armorial  bearings 
on  a  monumental  effigy. 

In  Henry  the  Third's  reign,  the  manor  was  sold 
to  Gilbert,  second  Abbot  of  Waverley.  Six 
monks  were  detached  from  the  Abbey,  who  lived 
at  the  "  cell "  of  Wanborough,  served  the  parish 
church,  and  managed  the  farm  of  which  the  huge 
tithe  barns,  with  magnificent  massive  timbers,  are 
still  in  use. 

The   church,    dedicated    to   St.    Bartholomew, 


166 


BYGONE  SURREY. 


was  built  in  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
partly  of  stone  and  flint,  partly  of  old  Roman 
tiles.  A  screen  of  Spanish  chestnut  divides  the 
chancel  from  the  body  of  the  church.  There  are 
records  of  oblations  received  there  from  Pilgrims. 


WANBOROUOH  CHURCH,  SUKKKV. 

(Pen  atvi  ink  iketch  by  Lady    Wett.) 


After  the  dissolution  of  monasteries,  the  church 
came  into  lay  hands,  but  there  seems  to  have  been 
no  endowment,  and  no  appointment,  and  divine 
service  was  only  occasionally  performed,  and  for 
many  years  it  was  practically  used  as  a  storehouse, 


WANBOROUGH.  167 

till  it  was  repaired,  in  1862,  by  Mr.  Duckworth,  at 
that  time  the  rector  of  the  adjoining  parish  of 
Putenham,  and  restored  to  its  proper  use  as  the 
Parish  Church. 

A  great  number  of  flint  implements,  now  in  the 
Charter  House  Museum,  have  been  found,  many 
of  them  in  the  "  Fair  Field,"  where  a  fair  used  to 
be  held  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  Canterbury 
Pilgrims ;  also  Roman  tiles  and  pottery ;  and  on 
the  north  side  of  the  present  house,  remains  of 
walls  or  foundations  abound  at  the  depth  of  about 
three  feet. 

At  the  suppression  of  the  monasteries,  Henry 
VIII.  bestowed  the  manor  on  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton, who  is  supposed  to  have  built  the  present 
house  in  1527.  It  is  of  moderate  size,  is  built  of 
narrow  bricks,  with  seven  gables  to  the  central 
main  body,  and  has  wings,  consisting  of  one  room 
each,  projecting  from  each  side,  so  as  to  enclose 
three  sides  of  a  courtyard.  Under  one  of  these 
wings  a  flight  of  steps  takes  you  into  a  massively 
vaulted  chamber,  from  which  an  underground 
passage  (now  closed),  leads  under  the  house  to 
the  church. 

On  the  first  floor  a  secret  room  has  recently 
been  discovered.     It  was  about  nine  feet  long,  by 


168  BYGONE  SURREY. 

four  feet  fiye,  and  the  only  ingress  was  by  a  door 
in  the  vast  kitchen  chimney,  which  was  reached 
by  a  ladder,  and  concealed  by  the  smoke.  There 
used  to  be  a  tale  in  the  village,  that  such  a 
hiding-place  existed,  and  it  was  talked  of  as  the 
Covenanters'  room,  but  no  other  tradition 
remained  to  account  for  the  name.  The  Abbot's 
Pond,  fed  by  the  famous  springs  alluded  to  above, 
was  formerly  fourteen  acres  in  extent,  but  has 
now  been  much  reduced  in  size,  the  land 
reclaimed  and  cultivated,  and  the  mill 
disused. 

At  Lord  Southampton's  death,  the  manor 
devolved  on  his  half-brother.  Sir  Anthony 
Browne,  and  then  changed  hands  rapidly  by 
descent  or  purchase.  At  one  time  the  Duchess 
of  Hamilton  settled  it  on  her  second  husband, 
Thomas  Dalmahoy,  and  the  initials,  T.  D., 
separated  by  a  heart,  which  are  carved  on 
the  centre  gable,  are  supposed  to  relate  to 
this. 

At  another  time  it  is  recorded  that  James  I., 
journeying  with  his  queen  from  Loseley  to 
Farnham,  halted  for  refreshment  at  Wanborough, 
and  knighted  his  host  at  the  gate. 

A  row  of  "  immemorial "  yews,  which  would 


WAN  BOROUGH.  169 

seem  to  date  from  the  days  of  the  monks'  hedges, 
adds  an  interesting  and  unusual  feature  to  the 
garden,  and  from  the  terrace  they  overshadow  a 
lovely  view  over  green  fields,  and  purple  heather 
stretches  away  towards  Ascot  and  Windsor. 


Battersca  anb  Clapbam. 

By  Percy  M,  Thornton,  m.p. 

I  HE  parish  of  Battersea  extends  on  the  south 
-■-  bank  of  the  Thames  from  Penge  on  the 
west  to  Lambeth  on  the  east,  forming  the 
northern  and  part  of  the  western  boundary  of  the 
sister  parish  of  Clapham.  The  village  of  Clapham 
which,  in  1638,  numbered  forty-six  ratepayers 
only,  was  situated  on  high  ground  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Wandsworth  Road,  up  to  which,  in 
ancient  times,  the  Thames  nearly  reached  at 
highest  tide. 

A  large  part  of  Battersea  parish  was  formerly 
more  or  less  under  water  before  the  low  ground 
was  drained  and  reclaimed  from  the  river,  which 
may  have  been  effected  during  the  Roman 
occupation.  Perhaps  the  canal  which  Canute  cut 
in  1016  from  Limehouse  Reach  to  St.  George's 
Reach,  through  Nine  Elms  (the  eastern  end  of 
Battersea  parish),  in  order  to  get  his  ships  above 
London  Bridge,  assisted  the  process. 

From  the  time  of  the  Conquest  to  the  dissolution 


B  ATT  ERSE  A  AND  CLAP  HAM.  171 

of  religious  houses,  the  manors  of  Battersea  and 
Wandsworth  belonged  to  the  Abbey  of  West- 
minster. The  name,  originally  Patricesy  (as  spelt 
in  the  Conqueror's  survey),  then  Batrichsey, 
meant  "  (Saint)  Peter's  Island,"  Westminster 
Abbey  being  dedicated  to  St.  Peter.  King 
Charles  I.  granted  the  manors  to  Viscount 
Grandison,  who  died  in  1630  ;  and  from  him  they 
devolved  on  his  great-nephew,  who  granted  them 
to  his  uncle,  Walter  St.  John,  the  grandfather  of 
Henry,  Viscount  Bolingbroke,  Queen  Anne's 
minister,  in  the  possession  of  whose  family 
they  remained  until  1763,  when  they  were 
purchased  for  an  ancestor  of  Earl  Spencer,  the 
present  lord  of  the  manor.  Bolingbroke  House, 
the  family  residence  of  the  St.  John's,  stood  near 
what  is  now  Mr.  Dives'  flour-mill.  Part  of  it, 
including  the  "  Cedar  Chamber,"  a  room 
wainscotted  with  cedar,  is  still  standing,  and  will 
always  be  celebrated  as  the  place  where  Boling- 
broke, the  elder  Pitt  (afterward  Lord  Chatham), 
and  Pope  used  to  meet. 

In  the  year  1868  it  became  necessary  for 
sanitary  reasons  to  disturb  the  crypt,  and 
accordingly  a  faculty  was  obtained  for  the 
re-arrangement  of  the  remains  under  St.  Mary's 


172  BYGONE  SURREY. 

church.  The  dust  of  the  famous  minister  was 
straightway  placed  under  the  crypt  below  the 
communion  table.  To  mark  the  spot  this 
inscription  was  placed  on  a  raised  stone  tablet : — 
"Henry  St.  John,  Viscount  Bolingbroke,  Secretary 
of  State  to  Queen  Anne.     Born  1678,  died  1751." 

In  the  fifteenth  century,  Thomas,  Lord  Stanley, 
had  property  in  Battersea,  but  in  1461  some  of  it 
was  made  over  to  Lawrence  Booth,  Bishop  of 
Durham,  who,  in  1477,  became  Archbishop  of 
York.  In  1472,  the  king  gave  the  Bishop  some 
property,  which  Lord  Stanley  had  forfeited 
under  the  statute  of  mortmain.  The  residence  of 
the  Archbishop  of  York  on  this  property  was 
formerly  called  Bridge  House,  and  subsequently 
York  House. 

Dr.  Church,  a  distinguished  divine,  who  took  an 
active  part  in  the  Wesley  and  Middleton 
controversy,  was  vicar  of  Battersea  1740-1756. 

In  Battersea  Fields  (now  Battersea  Park),  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  fought  his  duel  with  Lord 
Winchelsea  in  1829. 

Famous  enamels  used  to  be  produced  at 
Battersea ;  and  the  horizontal  windmill,  with 
ninety-six  sets  of  arms,  was  a  noteworthy  object 
in  Ly son's  time,  viz.,  1792.     A  hundred  years  ago 


BATTERSEA  AND  CLAPHAM.  173 

the    parish   contained    market   gardens    covering 
three  hundred  acres. 

The  Old  Bridge,  built  over  the  ferry  in  1766, 
was  a  picturesque  feature  of  "  Bygone  Battersea," 
and  is  now  superseded  by  the  handsome  structures 
opened  by  the  late  Lady  Rosebery  in  1890. 

Now  as  to  Clapham.  The  old  parish  church  of 
St.  Mary  (on  the  site  of  which  St.  Paul's  now 
stands),  the  old  manor  house,  and  the  Cock  Inn, 
which  still  retains  some  of  the  sixteenth  century 
structure,  were  grouped  together  nearly  due  north 
of  the  new  parish  church  of  Holy  Trinity,  erected 
in  1775  at  the  north-east  angle  of  the  Common. 

The  old  church  has  long  ago  vanished,  giving 
way  to  the  modern  fane  of  St.  Paul's,  but  the 
very  interesting  monument  of  Sir  Richard  Atkins 
and  his  family  w^as  discovered  in  1885  in  a  vault 
or  crypt,  and  was  placed  in  St.  Paul's  by  the 
exertions  of  the  author  of  Old  Clapham,  the  late 
Mr.  J.  W,  Grover.  Sir  Richard  Atkins  was 
grandson  of  Henry  Atkins,  physician  to  James  I. 
Dr.  Atkins  bought  the  manor  for  £6000,  and  his 
lineal  descendants  held  it  for  more  than  a  century, 
when  it  passed  to  Richard  Bowyer,  great 
grandfather  of  Rev.  T.  W.  Atkins-Bowyer,  late 
rector  of  the  parish,  and  sometime  Lord  of  the 


174  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Manor.  The  sculptured  and  recumbent  figures  of 
the  Atkins'  monument  are  of  Sir  Richard,  dressed 
as  an  officer  of  the  time  of  Charles  II.,  and  of  his 
wife,  Dame  Rebecca,  of  their  son  Henry,  aged 
twenty-four,  in  a  wig  and  the  costume  of  a  Roman 
general,  and  of  their  daughter  Annabella,  aged 
nineteen,  and  of  another  daughter,  Rebecca,  aged 
nine,  all  in  white  marble,  and  admirable  specimens 
of  the  sculptor's  art  in  the  Stuart  times.  Of  the 
old  manor  house,  a  handsome  Elizabethan 
structure,  nothing  now  remains  except  the  bow 
window  of  a  girls'  school,  part  of  the  base  of  an 
octagonal  tower ;  which  gave  rise  to  the  name 
"Turret  Grove." 

There  are  other  remains  of  ancient  buildinors, 
and  several  houses  designed  by  Sir  Christopher 
Wren  ;  but  the  chief  interest  of  Bygone  Clapham 
is  human,  rather  than  archaeological ;  and  though 
tradition  (as  to  which  the  writer  is  sceptical), 
asserts  that  Cromwell  and  Captain  Cooke 
resided  in  the  village,  while  General  Ireton 
certainly  lived  there  for  a  time ;  and  though 
Nicholas  Brady,  of  Psalmodic  fame,  was  rector 
1706-1726 ;  and  though,  according  to  the  late 
Mr.  Grover,  "Clapham  was  the  seat  of  a  Danish 
nobleman,  Osgod  Clapa,  at  the  marriage  feast  of 


BATTERSEA  AND  CLAP  HAM.  175 

whose  daughter  King  Hardicanute  fell  senseless 
to  the  ground  in  a  fit  of  intoxication,  and  expired," 
we  must  revert  to  the  Common  for  the  most 
famous  and  familiar  worthies  of  Clapham. 

A  large  portion  of  this  fine  expanse  of  turf  and 
once,  alas,  of  gorse,  interspersed  with  noble  trees, 
which  attracted  so  many  to  the  locality  since  the 
Restoration,  and  especially  since  Queen's  Anne's 
accession,  belongs  to  Batfcersea  Parish ;  the 
Battersea  boundary  running  from  Wix's  Lane  to 
the  Mount  Pond. 

By  a  compensatory  coincidence,  the  house  which 
was  successively  the  home  of  "  Single  Speech  " 
Hamilton,  of  Henry  Thornton,  of  Wilberforce,  of 
Sir  Robert  H.  Inglis,  the  library  of  which  Pitt 
designed,  the  house  which,  more  than  any  other 
building,  is  associated  with  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
the  colonisation  of  Sierra  Leone,  missions  to  India, 
the  Church  Missionary  Society,  and  the  centre  of 
the  evangelical  movement,  is  known  as  Battersea 
Rise,  though  it  belongs  to  Clapham  borough,  and 
is  on  that  common. 

But  before  we  come  to  the  illustrious  ''  Clapham 
Sect,"  chronological  sequence  invites  us  to  name 
Gauden  House,  a  large  mansion  standing  in 
extensive     grounds,     built     shortly     after    the 


176  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Restoration,  to  the  west  of  The  Chase,  by  Sir 
Dennis  Gauden,  brother  of  Bishop  Gaaden, 
who  was  thought  to  be  the  real  author  of  the 
Eikon  Basilike.  On  Sir  Dennis'  death  in  1688, 
the  estate  was  purchased  by  a  retired  commissioner 
of  the  navy,  Wilham  Hewer,  who  had  been  clerk 
to  Samuel  Pepys.  After  the  Revolution,  Pepys 
lived  in  Mr.  Hewer's  house  in  retirement,  and 
died  there  in  1703.  He  speaks  of  the  house  as 
"  almost  built "  in  his  diary. 

The  house  was  pulled  down  soon  afterwards, 
and  the  estate  is  now  occupied  by  the  Terrace  and 
Victoria  Road.  Its  famous  neighbour,  "  The 
Cedars,"  designed  by  Christoper  Wren  or  Inigo 
Jones,  survived  until  1864,  and  gave  the  name  to 
Cedars  Road. 

The  house  where  Granville  Sharp,  the 
abolitionist,  is  said  to  have  resided,  was  completed 
in  1720,  and  most  of  the  houses  in  Church 
Buildings  are  still  in  good  condition.  The 
portion  now  known  as  No.  3  and  No.  4,  was 
Lord  Macaulay's  first  school.  He  was  a  day 
scholar  under  Mr.  Greaves,  who  started  his 
scholastic  work,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
philanthropist,  by  trying  to  educate  youths  from 
Africa.     To  a  school  in  Church  Building,   Tom 


BATTERSEA  AND  CLAPUAM.  177 

Hood  also  resorted,  and  avenged  himself  for  this 
captivity  within  the  "irksome  walls  "  in  his  "  Ode 
on  a  Distant  Prospect  of  Clapham  Academy  " — 
thus  described : — 

"  Ah  me  !  those  old  familiar  bounds  ! 
That  classic  house,  those  classic  grounds. 

My  pensive  thought  recalls. 
What  tender  urchins  now  confine, 
What  little  captives  now  repine 

Within  yon  irksome  walls." 

John  Thornton,  the  merchant-prince  and 
philanthropist,  was  born  on  the  border  of 
Clapham  Common,  in  1720.  He  was  a  son  and 
successor  of  Kobert  Thornton,  a  merchant  in  the 
Russian  trade,  at  Hull,  who  had  a  villa  on 
Clapham  Common. 

John   Thornton   is   chiefly  celebrated   for   his 

great  munificence,  and  the  unsectarian  character 

of  his  piety ;    yet   he  may  be  regarded  as  the 

father  of  the  so-called  "Clapham  Sect;"  for  he 

was     the     father     of     Henry     Thornton,     who 

purchased  Battersea  Rise  in  the  year  1792,  while 

Wilberforce,    also    of     Hull,    having     lived     at 

Wimbledon  with  his  aunt,  Mrs.  Wilberforce,  for 

some   years   of  his    boyhood,    and   having   been 

subsequently  a  frequent  guest  at  John  Thornton's 

12 


178  BYGONE  SURREY. 

house  at  Clapham,  formed  an  early  friendship  for 
Henry  Thornton,  which  exercised  a  potent 
influence  on  the  life  and  characters  of  both. 
John  Thornton's  three  sons  were  all  highly 
respected  Members  of  Parliament,  and  his  only 
daughter  married  Lord  Balgony,  and  became 
Countess  of  Leven  and  Melville.  Samuel 
Thornton,  John's  eldest  son,  was  Pitt's  financial 
adviser,  successively  member  for  Hull  and  Surrey, 
as  well  as  long  a  governor  of  the  Bank  of  England, 
he  lived  through  five  reigns,  viz.,  George  II. 
to  Victoria — 1754-1838.  Robert,  the  second 
son,  was  M.P.  for  Colchester,  and  inhabited 
a  large  house,  the  site  of  which  is  now 
occupied  by  the  Nunnery.  The  third  son, 
Henry,  of  Battersea  Bise,  the  friend  and 
coadjutor  of  Wilberforce,  entered  parliament  in 
1784,  when  still  a  young  man,  four  years  after 
Wilberforce,  as  member  for  the  borough  of 
Southwark,  and  as  an  independent  politician, 
giving  a  general  support  to  Pitt.  He  was,  for 
thirty  years,  second  only  to  Homer  as  an 
authority  on  Currency  and  Finance.  His  public 
and  private  character  are  well  illustrated  by  his 
writings,  for  he  was  the  author  of  a  standard 
work   oiT    paper    qredit,    of  a   Book   of  Family 


BATTERSEA  AND  CLAP  HAM.  179 

Prayers,  which  is  still  largely  used,  and  of 
commentaries  on  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 
He  also  contributed  a  number  of  political  and 
moral  essays  to  the  Christian  Observer,  and 
composed  tracts  for  Hannah  More.  He  drew  his 
friend  Wilberforce  to  Clapham,  where  they  lived 
together  for  several  years,  and  gathered  around 
them  a  remarkable  circle  of  public  benefactors. 
The  genius  and  impetuosity  of  Wilberforce,  allied 
to  the  science  and  common  sense  of  Thornton, 
were  irresistible.  Charles  Grant,  an  influential 
director  of  the  East  India  Company,  and  Eliot, 
Pitt's  brother-in-law,  became  their  neighbours  in 
the  two  houses  built  by  Henry  Thornton  on 
either  side  of  his  own  residence.  After  Eliot's 
death  and  Henry  Thornton's  marriage,  in  1787, 
Wilberforce  succeeded  Eliot  as  tenant  of  Broom 
field,  now  Broomwood. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Mr.  Pitt  designed  the 
oval  library  in  Mr.  Thornton's  house  on  Battersea 
Rise,  which  stands,  as  Sir  James  Stephen  says  in 
his  famous  essay,  "  a  solitary  monument  of  the 
architectural  skill  of  that  imperial  mind." 

The  society  at  Clapham  included  among  its 
prominent  members  Zachary  Macaulay,  the 
secretary  of  the  anti-slavery  movement,  and  the 


180  BYGONE  SURREY. 

editor  of  the  Christian  Observer,  who  lived  at 
No.  5,  The  Pavement,  at  the  north-east  angle  of 
the  Common,  where  Sir  George  Trevelyan  tells 
us  the  future  Lord  Maeaulay  passed  "a  happy 
childhood,"  and  Granvill  Sharp,  of  Church 
Buildings,  and  Lord  Teignmouth,  at  what  is  now 
the  convent,  and  James  Stephen,  father  of  a 
Clapham  worthy,  Sir  James  Stephen,  of  Stowey 
House,  who  drafted  the  Abolition  Bill  of  1833  ; 
on  the  south  side  of  the  common  the  elder  Charles 
Grant,  Thomas  Babington,  Charles  Simeon, 
and  John  Venn,  Rector  of  Clapham,  and  later  on 
John  Bowdler.  Of  this  set,  Maeaulay  in  1844 
wrote  as  follows  : — 

**  From  that  little  knot  of  men  emanated  all  the 
bible  societies  and  almost  all  the  missionary 
societies  in  the  world.  The  whole  organization  of 
the  Evangelical  party  was  their  work.  The  share 
that  they  had  in  providing  means  for  the  education 
of  the  people  was  great.  They  were  really  the 
destroyers  of  the  slave  trade  and  slavery.  Many 
of  those  whom  Stephen  describes  were  public  men 
of  the  greatest  weight.  Lord  Teignmouth  govern- 
ed India  at  Calcutta ;  Grant  governed  India  at 
Leadenhall  Street;  Stephen's  father  was  Percival's 
right-hand  man  in  the  House  of  Commons.     It  is 


BATTERSEA  AND  CLAPHAM,  181 

needless  to  speak  of  Wilberforce.  As  to  Simeon,  if 
you  knew  what  his  authority  and  influence  were> 
and  how  they  extended  from  Cambridge  to  the  most 
remote  corners  of  England,  you  would  allow  that 
his  sway  in  the  church  was  greater  than  that  of 
any  primate." 

While  these  earnest  Claphamites  were  studying 
men  and  manners,  and  labouring  to  save  souls, 
the  great  chemist  and  natural  philosopher,  Henry 
Cavendish,  grandson  of  the  second  Duke  of 
Devonshire,  at  Cavendish  House,  close  to  the 
south  angle  of  the  common,  was  analysing  air  and 
water,  and  there  found  the  means,  if  not  for 
lifting,  at  any  rate  for  weighing  the  earth.  He 
was  amassing  the  while  out  of  an  already  ample 
fortune,  more  than  a  million  sterling  by  mere 
disregard  of  wealth  and  luxury. 

Zachary  Macaulay,  son  of  the  Presbyterian 
minister  of  Cardross,  became  governor  of  Sierra 
Leone  in  1792,  and  on  his  return  in  1799,  settled 
at  Clapham,  as  secretary  to  the  Directors  of  the 
Colony,  and  in  1800  editor  of  the  Cliristian 
Observer.  Of  his  son.  Lord  Macaulay,  it  need 
only  be  said  here  that  he  was  of  Clapham,  by 
early  education  and  residence.  Sir  John  Shore, 
a    Harrovian,  and  contemporary  of  Sir  William 


182  BYGONE  SURREY, 

Jones,  when  Lord  Teignmouth  succeeded  Lord 
Cornwallis  as  governor  general  of  India,  and  on 
his  return  to  England  in  1797  was  made  an  Irish 
peer.  With  Mr.  Henry  Thornton  he  took  part 
in  raising  a  large  corps  of  volunteers  on  the 
threatened  invasion  by  Napoleon  I. 

After  Henry  Thornton's  death,  in  1815,  Mr. 
(afterwards  Sir)  Robert  Harry  Inglis,  Bart., 
member  for  Oxford  University,  1829-1859,  with 
his  wife  settled  at  Batter  sea  Rise  until  1833, 
taking  charge  of  the  nine  orphans,  and  made  it 
"the  resort  of  many  people  of  note  and  genius 
who  either  dwelt  in  London  or  visited  it." 

Clapham  has  reason  to  be  proud  of  its 
Nonconformist  divines.  In  the  seventeenth 
century  Dr.  Wilkinson  and  Mr.  Lye  attracted 
congregations  here.  The  adherents  of  the  latter 
subsequently  assembled  in  Clapham  Hall,  which 
was  erected  as  a  chapel  in  1769.  From  1710  to 
1807  three  distinguished  ministers,  Rev.  M. 
Lowman,  Dr.  Philip  Furneaux,  and  Rev.  Thomas 
Urwick,  successively  preached  at  Clapham  Hall, 
whence  in  1852  the  congregation  moved  to 
Grafton  Square  Chapel. 

A  notable  high-churchman  finds  a  place  on  the 
Clapham     roll   of  fame,    having    been    born    in 


BATTERSEA  AND  CLAP/JAM.  183 

Broomwood  House,  namely  Samuel  Wilberforee, 
son  of  the  philanthropist,  successively  Bishop  of 
Oxford  and  Winchester. 

The  Rev.  John  Venn,  born  in  Clapham  in 
1759,  was  a  most  eloquent  preacher,  and  one  of 
the  distinguished  divines  of  the  Evangelical 
party.  His  successor,  Dr.  William  Dealtry,  was 
Archdeacon  of  Surrey  and  Chancellor  of  the 
Diocese  of  Winchester.  In  scholarship  and 
theology,  he  was  equally  eminent,  and  all  his 
various  gifts  of  learning  and  eloquence  were  freely 
expended  in  promoting  the  best  interests  of  the 
parish.  It  is  truly  said  in  his  epitaph  "  His 
labours  in  this  parish,  recorded  in  the  churches 
and  schools  erected  during  his  incumbency,  and  in 
benevolent  associations  established  through  his 
efforts,  have  left  their  testimony  in  the  hearts  of 
those  for  whom  he  was  ever  ready  to  spend  and  to 
be  spent  in  the  service  of  the  Lord." 

Sir  Charles  Trevelyan,  a  distinguished  Indian 
administrator,  lived  on  the  common  near  Battersea 
Rise ;  Sir  James  Stephen,  already  mentioned, 
wrote  the  celebrated  essay  on  the  Clapham  Sect 
for  the  Edinburgh  Review,  reprinted  in  his  Essays 
on  Ecclesiastical  Biography  (Longman's  1867). 
The    Elms    House,    which    when   this   was   first 


184  BYGONE  SURREY. 

written  was  situated  at  the  corner  of  The 
Chase,  was  in  former  times  the  residence  of  the 
Barclays,  so  distinguished  for  wealth,  probity,  and 
religious  fervour,  who,  like  the  Hanburys  of 
Clapham,  traced  their  descent  from  King  Edward 
I.  At  the  Elms,  in  1860,  after  ten  years  residence, 
died  Sir  Charles  Barry,  the  distinguished  architect 
of  the  Houses  of  Parliament.  Field-Marshal 
Sir  George  Pollock  resided  at  Beechwood,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  common  in  Battersea  Parish,  and 
died  there  in  1872.  It  is  appropriate  that  the 
man  who  enjoys  the  chief  credit  for  mitigating  the 
rigour  of  our  criminal  code,  namely.  Sir  James 
Macintosh,  should  have  taken  up  his  abode  at 
Battersea  Rise ;  to  wit,  in  the  house  called 
**  Maisonette,"  where  Wilberforce  visited  him  in 
1830. 

The  late  Mr.  Henry  Sykes  Thornton,  Henry 
Thornton's  son,  amply  maintained  the  family 
traditions  of  intellectual  ability,  business  capacity, 
religious  earnestness,  and  munificent  philanthropy. 

Clapham  has  grown  very  rapidly  during  the 
last  hundred  years.  When  Wilberforce  and 
Henry  Thornton  entered  Parliament  there  were, 
it  is  said,  only  240  houses  in  the  parish,  while  in 
1885  there  were  6263  houses;  and  now  there  are 


BATTERSEA  AND  CLAPHAM.  185 

probably  over  7000,  while  the  old  houses  of  past 
worthies  are  fast  disappearing,  and  their  grounds 
being  laid  out  for  building  purposes. 

The  following  interesting  items  are  from  H.  A. 
Batten's  ''Key  and  Companion  to  the  Plan  of 
Clapham,"  1827:— 

1698. — March  12th  being  Fast  day,  the  following  brief  was 
read  :  The  Yaudois  inhabitants  of  the  valley  on  the 
side  of  the  river  Clusa,  who  being  subjects  of  France 
before  the  late  war,  have,  since  the  conclusion  of  the 
peace,  through  Papish  cruelty,  been  exiled  and 
banished  from  their  native  country,  without  any 
.  present  hopes  to  return,  but  by  renouncing  their  holy 
religion,  which  through  the  singular  goodness  of 
Almighty  God,  both  they  and  their  brethren,  the 
Yaudois  of  Pedmont,  on  the  other  side  of  the  same 
river,  have  hitherto  kept  undefiled. 

The  Collection  made  was     -       £126     0     0 

1704. — For  the  Distressed  Protestants  in  the  Principality  of 

Orange,  on  which  occasion  £13   18  6.   was  collected 

at  the  doors  of  the  Church,  and  £41   19  6^  at  the 

Dissenting  meeting. 

1793. — May  12th.     For  the  French  emigrants 

from  house  to  house    -       £131     0     0 
1807  — Nov.  22nd.    For  the  British  Prisoners 

in  France    -         -         -  £87  19     9 

1 826.— April  30th.     For  the  distressed  Silk  Weavers 

in  Spitalfields      -         -        £105  13     0 
1826.— April  30th.     At  St.  Paul's  Chapel      -          £95     0     0 


1Ron6UCb. 

By  S.  W.  Kershaw,  f.s.a. 

"  That  which  no  equal  has  in  art  or  fame, 
Britons  deservedly  do  Nonsuch  name." 

THE  story  goes  that  Hehry  VIII.,  hunting 
near  the  Banstead  downs,  when  tired  of 
the  chase,  was  entertained  by  Sir  Richard  de 
Cuddington,  who  owned  that  Manor.  The  King 
was  so  pleased  with  the  place,  he  offered  an 
exchange,  annexed  the  manor  to  Hampton  Court, 
and  built  a  palace  on  the  site,  a  palace  whose 
fame  has  long  been  a  bye-word  for  quaint  and 
original  beauty. 

The  erection  of  Nonsuch  marks  an  epoch  in 
artistic  history,  the  fairy-like  structure  which 
was  the  pride  of  the  Tudors,  claims  the  genius  of 
Italy  in  its  varied  designs,  and  its  wealth  of 
ornament  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  influence 
of  foreign  taste  on  English  architecture. 

In  the  earliest  description  of  Nonsuch,  in  1582, 
"it  is  stated  Henry  VIII.  procured  many 
artificers,  architects,  sculptors,  and  statuaries,  as 
well     as     Italians,     French,     and     Dutch,    who 


NONSUCH.  187 

applied  to  the  ornament  of  this  mansion  the 
finest  and  most  curious  skill  they  possessed  in 
their  several  arts,  embellishing  it  within  and 
without  with  magnificent  statues,  some  of  which 
represent  the  antiquities  of  Rome,"  and  some 
surpass  them,  a  statement  which  Camden  in  his 
"  Britannia "  echoes,  and  declares  that  Nonsuch 
"  was  built  with  so  much  splendour  and  elegance, 
that  it  stands  a  monument  of  art,  and  you  would 
think  that  the  skill  and  science  of  architecture  were 
exhausted  on  this  one  building.  It  has  such  a 
profusion  of  animated  statues  and  finished  pieces 
of  art,  rivalling  the  ornaments  of  ancient  Rome 
itself,  that  it  justly  receives  and  maintains  its 
name  from  them." 

The  credit  of  the  design  rests  with  one 
Anthonio  or  Toto*  dell  Nunciata,  a  Florentine 
painter  and  architect,  who  entered,  with  many 
other  foreign  artists,  the  King's  service,  and 
whose  special  skill  in  designing  allegorical  and 
pictorial  sculpture  was  seen  in  the  elaborate 
ornament,  which  justly  earned  for  this  building 
the  name  of  "  Nonsuch,"  a  palace  of  which,  it 
may  be  said,  it  was  the  only  one  Henry  VIII. 

*  The  "Denizations,"  Huguenot  Society  of  London,  1893,  mention  a 
grant  to  Anthony  Toto  and  his  wife,  of  cottages  and  land  at 
Mitcham. 


188  BYGONE  SURREY. 

built.  To  the  engraved  view,  taken  from 
Hoefnagel's  print  of  1582,  may  be  added  the 
following  minute  description  : — 

"  The  original  and  principal  structure  was  of 
two  stories,  the  lower  being  of  substantial  and 
well  wrought  freestone,  and  the  upper  of  wood, 
richly  adorned  and  set  forth  and  garnished  with  a 
variety  of  statues,  pictures  (i.e.,  coloured  figures  in 
relief),  and  other  artistic  forms  of  excellent  art 
and  workmanship,  and  of  no  small  cost.  Its  roof 
is  covered  with  blue  slate.  In  the  centre,  over 
the  gatehouse  to  the  inner  court,  was  a  clock 
turret,  and  at  either  end  of  the  structure,  east 
and  west,  was  a  large  tower  of  five  stories  high, 
commanding  an  extensive  prospect. 
This  singular  building  remained  in  good  condition 
for  more  than  a  century,  for  it  is  noticed  both  by 
Evelyn  and  Pepys  in  their  diaries  in  the  year 
1665.  The  palace  consists  of  two  courts,  of 
which  the  first  is  of  stone,  castle  like,  built  in  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  by  Lord  Lumley ;  the  other 
of  timber,  a  Gothic  fabric,  but  the  walls 
incomparably  beautiful.  The  appearing  timber, 
entrelaces,  etc.,  were  all  so  covered  with  scales  of 
slate,  that  it  seemed  carved  in  the  wood  and 
painted,  the  slate  fastened  on  the  timbers  in  pretty 


NONSUCH.  189 

figures,  that  has,  Hke  a  coat  of  armour,  preserved 
it  from  rotting.  There  stand  in  the  garden  two 
handsome  stone  pyramids."* 

Documentary  evidence  proves  the  vast  amount 
of  work  expended  on  the  palace,  and  we  note  in 
1542  a  "Bill  of  charges  by  carvers  and  gilders 
done  at  Nonsuch,"  t  as  one  of  the  many  items 
expended  on  this  royal  domain. 

From  the  same  source  one  gleans  much 
concerning  the  building  materials  :  the  stone  was 
brought  from  Reigate,  also  Caen  and  Luke  stone, 
were  conveyed  by  water,  and  landed  at 
Ditton  on  the  Thames.  The  timber  was 
principally  supplied  from  the  Wealden  district,  or 
from  woods  near,  as  we  read  of  its  carriage  from 
Horley,  Bristow,  Lee  (Leigh),  Bowkham 
(Bookham).  The  principal  pieces  for  the  towers 
at  Nonsuch  were  from  Rusper  on  the  Sussex 
border,  and  there  are  charges  for  felling  and 
sawing  of  timber  at  the  above  place,  and  at  New- 
digate.  These  paymasters'  accounts  also  mention 
smiths'  work,  sawyers  and  chalk  diggers,  besides 
an  infinity  of  smaller  expenses,  all  very  interesting, 
attesting  the  fact  that  on  the  erection  of  such  a 


*  Oentleman's  Magazine,  August  1837. 
t  Domestic  State  Papers,  Henry  VIII, 


190  BYGONE  SURREY. 

house,  local  resources  were  employed,  and  that 
as  one  of  the  King's  manors,  the  enrolment  of  its 
expenses  in  the  State  papers,  gives  it  a  first  rank 
in  Surrey  antiquarian  lore. 

Every  portion  seems  to  have  received  minute 
attention  in  decorative  details,  and  to  have 
exemplified  this  feature  more  forcibly  than 
Hampton  Court  or  Whitehall,  also  filled  with 
so  called  "  pictures,"  but  as  mentioned  above, 
they  were  more  properly  bas-reliefs  in  wood 
or  alabaster  plaques,  tapestry,  needlew^ork,  and 
all  those  decorations  which  received  a  direct 
impetus  from  the  influence  of  foreign  workmen. 

The  excessive  patronage  of  "  strangers," 
naturally  caused  dissatisfaction,  a  sentiment 
expressed  in  the  rhyming  ballads  of  the  day  : — 

"  Poor  tradesmen  had  small  dealings  then, 
And  who  but  strangers  bore  the  bell, 
Which  was  a  grief  to  Englishmen, 
To  see  them  here  in  London  dwell." 

To  construct  the  clock  which  adorned  the 
central  tower  of  Nonsuch,  six  French  artisans 
were  sent  for,  and  their  names  are  to  be  found  in 
the  "Letters  and  Denizations,"  1509-1603,  before 
mentioned. 

At  this  time  there   were  few  clockmakers  in 


NONSUCH.  191 

England,  most  of  them  came  from  Normandy, 
and  the  old  turret  clock  at  Hampton  Court  bears 
the  initials  of  Nicholas  Oursiau,  a  foreigner. 

Gardens  and  lawns  surrounded  Nonsuch,  and 
many  a  fantastically  wrought  fountain  sparkled  in 
the  fair  quadrangle,  or  on  the  broad  terraced  walk 
of  this  stately  manor. 

Long  varied  banks  and  alleys  of  trellis  work 
diversified  the  scene,  and  it  is  said  that  Lord 
Bacon  had  this  unique  picture  in  his  mind  when 
he  wrote  his  ''  Essays  of  Buildings  and  of 
Gardens." 

Hentzner,  whose  travels  are  far  famed,  de- 
scribing his  visit,  says  "two  fountains,  one  round 
and  the  other  like  a  pyramid,  upon  which  are 
perched  small  birds  that  stream  water  out  of  their 
bills ;  in  the  grove  of  Diana  is  a  fountain  and 
nymphs  with  inscription ;  there  is  besides,  another 
pyramid  of  marble,  full  of  concealed  pipes  which 
spirts  upon  all  who  come  within  their  reach  !" 

Camden  writes  : — 

"The  house  is  surrounded  with  parks  full  of 
deer,  delicate  orchards  and  gardens,  groves  adorned 
with  arbours,  little  garden-beds  and  walks  shaded 
with  trees,  that  pleasure  and  health  seem  to  have 
made  choice  of  this  place,  and  to  live  together." 


192  BYGONE  SURREY. 

The  manor  of  Cheam  has  had  its  roll  of  fame. 

Henry   the  VIII.    exchanged  it  with   Cranmer 

for  lands  at  Chislet  in  Kent.     The  living  has  also 

been    noted,    for    6ve    of    its    rectors,     in    the 

sixteenth     and     seventeenth     centuries     became 

bishops,    and   of  them,    Lancelot    Andrews   and 

Bishop  Hacket  of  Lichfield  were  most  eminent.    Of 

the  former,  the  witty  Fuller  remarked  that  "  they 

who  stole  his  sermons  could  not  steal  his  manner." 

Elizabeth  made  him  Dean  of  Wells,  and  he  had 

great  share  in  the  revision  of  the  Bible  in  1611. 

His  ability  and  learning  found  vent  in  the  couplet, 

"  If  ever  any  merited  to  be 
The  universal  Bishop,  this  was  he," 

and  one  of  the  famed  monuments  in  St. 
Saviour's,  Southwark,  is  to  Bishop  Andrews. 

After  the  death  of  Henry  VIII.,  the  Earl  of 
Arundel,  whose  descendants  are  commemorated  in 
the  celebrated  Lumley  monuments  and  brasses,  in 
the  adjoining  church  of  Cheam,  possessed 
Nonsuch. 

Near  at  hand  an  ancient  house  called  "  White- 
hall," was  famous  for  having  been  either  an 
appendage  for  the  court  attendants,  or  for 
occasional  use  by  royalty  itself. 

Lord  Lumley  was  a  great  collector,  and  a  most 


NONSUCH.  193 

interesting  association  constantly  occurs  in  the  fact 
that  many  of  Archbishop  Cranmer's  works  were 
acquired  by  Lord  Lumley,  whose  autograph  with 
that  of  the  martyr  Primate  repeatedly  appears  on 
the  title  pages. 

The  correspondence  of  the  Earl  of  Arundel  with 
Sir  William  More,  is  to  be  found  in  the  famous 
collection  known  as  the  "Loseley  MSS."  extending 
from  the  twelfth  to  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
that  mine  of  chronicled  lore  and  political  gossip 
was  gathered  in  the  historic  house  of  Loseley,  than 
which  no  more  typical  illustration  of  "bygone" 
art  and  architecture  exists,  even  to-day,  in  this, 
one  of  the  fairest  mansions  in  all  Surrey. 

It   was    from    Lord    Arundel    that    Elizabeth 

purchased  Nonsuch,  and  became  so  enamoured  of 

the  place.     Long  before  her  tenure,  this  house  had 

played  a  varied  and  important  part  in   English 

annals,  "  the  manor  of  Nonsuch  "  being  a  frequent 

appendage  to  many  a  state  paper,  news-letter,  or 

Royal  despatch.     In  1555  we  read  Queen  Mary's 

permission  was  given  to  M.  Noailles,  the  French 

ambassador,  to  see  the  gardens  and  park  ;  another 

time   we    read   of  a  warrant  to   deliver   to   him 

two  does  from  the  Great  Park,  and  to  her  cousin, 

Cardinal  Pole,   the  Queen  wrote  a  letter,  under 

13 


194  BYGONE  SURREY. 

royal  signet,  permitting  him  to  hunt  deer  in  the 
park. 

As  time  progresses,  we  find  mention  of  several 
offices  connected  with  this  mansion ;  Sir  Thomas 
Cawarden,  "  Master  of  the  Revels,"  was  keeper  of 
the  palace  and  park  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII., 
Edward,  and  Elizabeth,  his  friend  and  executor 
was  Sir  Wm.  More,  of  Loseley,  and  it  is 
of  much  interest  to  note  that  under  Sir  Thomas, 
a  school  of  actors  had  been  formed,  who,  it  appears, 
were  indirectly  connected  with  the  rise  of  the 
Blackfriars  Theatre,  and  so  with  that  of  the  great 
Shakespeare  himself. 

Henry  VIII.'s  license  permitted  Sir  Thomas 
to  have  a  company  of  armed  retainers  ;  his  feudal 
estate  at  Blechingley  further  associates  him  with 
"Bygone  Surrey,"  as  well  as  his  friendship  with 
Sir  William  More,  whose  "zeal  and  pleasure," 
shown  in  all  local  matters,  claims  for  the  owners 
of  Loseley,  a  very  distinguished  place  in  historic 
and  county  annals. 

During  the  Earl  of  Arundel's  tenure  of  Nonsuch, 
he  entertained  the  Queen  splendidly  in  1579. 
Strype  writes  : — "  Here  the  Queen  had  great 
entertainment,  with  banquets,  together  with  a 
masque,   and  the    warlike   sound   of  drums   and 


NONSUCH.  195 

flutes,  and  all  kinds  of  music  till  midnight ;  at 
night  was  a  play  of  the  children  of  St.  Paul's,  and 
their  master,  after  that,  a  costly  banquet, 
accompanied  with  drums  and  flutes,  and  the 
Earl  presented  Her  Majesty  with  a  cupboard  of 
plate. " 

These  expressions  of  goodwill  were  shown, 
though  in  another  way,  to  Archbishop  Parker,  to 
whom  the  Earl  gave  an  order  to  deliver  deer  from 
his  estate.  At  this  time,  we  read  much  of  the 
Park  at  Nonsuch,  of  which  there  appears  to  have 
been  a  "Great  and  Little  Park."  In  1605  a 
regfulation  was  made  to  endow  lands  for  the 
enlargement  of  the  park,  and  for  some  years  later 
the  State  Papers  record  many  an  incident 
relating  to  its  maintenance,  also  as  to  the 
Lodge,  such  as  "  timber  for  the  repair,"  and  a 
"  warrant  for  sale  of  trees  in  Chute  Forest, 
Hampshire,  as  well  as  £150  to  build  a  fair  lodge 
in  Nonsuch  Park." 

Queen  Elizabeth  took  possession  of  Nonsuch 
about  1580,  and  here,  until  her  death,  the  Court 
often  repaired,  whence  despatches  were  constantly 
dated,  the  letters  of  the  famous  Lord  Howard  of 
Effingham,  concerning  the  Armada,  and  other 
like  correspondence,  are  among  the  most  notable. 


196  BYGONE  SURREY. 

On  the  second  outbreak  of  the  Spaniards,  after  the 
great  invasion,  Rowland  Whyte  reports,  "  Our 
fleet  goes  to  sea  ;  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  took  leave 
at  Court  of  all  the  ladies  and  his  friends  ;  he  was 
brought  to  see  the  singularities  of  the  gardens, 
which  pleased   him  infinitely." 

At  this  historical  house  were  dated  some  of 
the  letters  concerning  the  fate  of  Mary 
Stuart,  from  Secretary  Davison  to  the  Earl  of 
Leicester. 

In  less  than  a  month  afterwards,  the  Earl  of 
Essex  rode  hastily  along  those  noble  avenues  to 
the  entrance  court,  eager  to  lay  the  report  of  his 
management  in  Ireland  before  the  Queen.  In 
that  early  summer  morning,  Essex  had  taken 
,  horse  from  Westminster,  and  stirred  not  till  he 
arrived  at  the  gates  of  Nonsuch,  and  although 
the  Queen  was  but  "  newly  up  "  he  obtained  an 
audience.  Her  Majesty  gave  him  "  good  words 
and  said  he  was  welcome,  and  willed  him  to  rest 
after  so  wearie  a  journey."  "  Essex  thanked  God 
that  although  he  had  suffered  much  trouble  and 
storms  abroad,  he  found  sweet  calm  at  home." 

That  fickle  Queen,  when  the  Earl  waited  on 
her  later  in  the  afternoon,  "  ordered  him  to  keep 
his  chamber."      Essex  was  in  reality  a  prisoner 


NONSUCH.  197 

here,  but  he  was  visited  and  consoled  by  his  good 
friend  Francis  Bacon,  who  was  then  in  attendance 
at  court. 

Sir  Nicolas  Bacon,  lawyer,  wit,  and  courtier, 
and  keeper  of  the  Great  Seal,  received  the  Queen 
at  his  house  at  Gorhambury  in  1577,  who,  when 
she  told  him  it  was  too  little  for  him,  elicted  from 
him  the  remarkable  answer  "  No  madam,  it  is  your 
Highness  had  made  me  too  great  for  my  house." 

The  council  which  terminated  the  fate  of 
Essex,  sat  at  Nonsuch,  and  when,  in  after  days, 
the  Queen  heard  of  his  revolt  and  attempt  at  the 
overthrow  of  the  Crown,  all  her  fiery  Tudor 
nature  arose  within  her,  and  she  exclaimed  to  her 
Chancellor  Harrington,  "  By  God's  son,  I  am 
no  Queen,  this  man  is  above  me." 

Soon  after  this,  we  read  of  few  events  at 
Nonsuch,  and,  if  the  story  be  true,  riding  on  a 
sun-glaring  day,  the  Queen  thought  the  Palace 
was  on  fire,  and  on  her  attendants  telling  her  it 
was  only  the  sun's  rays  on  the  roof,  the  mistake 
so  displeased  her  vanity,  that  she  rode  home  and 
bade  adieu  with  her  Court  to  Nonsuch  for  ever. 
This  foible,  though  small,  stamps  the  extra- 
ordinary nature  of  a  sovereign  who,  in  other 
ways,    brought    England    to   such   a    height   of 


198  BYGONE  SURREY. 

renown,  and  who  had  made  her  throne  one 
of  the  first  in  the  world. 

James  I.  and  Anne  of  Denmark  lived  here 
at  various  times,  but  "Theobalds,"  on  the  way  to 
Newmarket,  was  a  more  attractive  resort  of  that 
pleasure-loving  king.  Though  Hampton  Court 
was  the  favourite  abode  of  Charles  I.,  occasional 
allusions  are  made  to  his  sojourn  at  Nonsuch — 
certainly  as  recorded  by  Miss  Strickland  in  her 
lives  of  the  Queens  of  England — "  the  king  and 
Henrietta  Maria  seem  to  have  retired  here,  after 
a  somewhat  paltry  little  quarrel  on  the  dismissal 
of  the  Queen's  French  attendants,  whose  retention 
gave  great  offence  to  the  general  public." 

The  Palace  was  a  retreat  for  court  favourites  ; 
in  1625  we  read  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  being 
here  to  "  confirm  his  health,"  and  a  few  years 
before,  the  Spanish  Ambassador,  Gondomar,  on 
account  of  his  countenance  of  the  mass,  was  so 
unpopular,  that  he  retired  here  to  avoid  the  fury 
of  the  people. 

The  Civil  War  brought  its  consequent  train  of 
events.  This  mansion,  with  other  crown  lands, 
fell  into  the  hands  of  the  commissioners,  and  in 
1648  the  following  order  was  issued  "  to  send  out 
scouts  to  discover  whether  there  be  any  movements 


NONSUCH.  199 

of  the  enemy  towards  surprising  Oatlands, 
Richmond,  and  Nonsuch,  and  to  prevent  the 
execution  of  that  design."  It  is  probable  that 
these  houses  not  so  fortified  escaped  the  attacks 
made  on  the  greater  strongholds  of  Farnham, 
Guildford,  and  Sterborough  castles,  all  of  which 
underwent  a  siege. 

Nonsuch  came  under  the  parliamentary  tenure, 
and  a  minute  survey  made  in  1650  gives  a  very 
fair  idea  of  its  condition.  Each  part  is  described 
in  detail,  giving  an  excellent  notion  of  the  size 
and  use  of  the  numerous  rooms,  which 
accommodated  so  large  a  court  retinue  as  had  been 
lately  maintained  by  Henrietta  Maria.  Nor  are 
the  fountains,  the  gardens,  and  the  smaller 
buildings  omitted  in  this  survey,  which  is  printed 
in  Archseologia  (vol  v.),  1779,  and  of  which  but  a 
fragment  is  here  given  : — 

"  The  gatehouse  leading  into  the  outward  court  aforesaid,  is 
a  building  very  strong  and  gracefull,  being  three  stories  high, 
leaded  overhead,  battled  and  turretted  in  every  of  the  four 
corners  thereof,  the  highest  of  which  stories  contains  a  very 
large  and  spacious  roouie,  very  pleasant  and  delectable  for 
prospect. 

And  also  consisting  of  one  other  faire  and  very  curious 
structure  or  building  of  two  stories  high,  the  lower  story  where- 
of is  of  good  and  well  wrought  free  stone,  and  the  higher  of 
wood,  richly  adorned  and  set  forth  and  garnished  with  variety 


200  BYGONE  SURREY. 

of  statues,  pictures,  *  *  *  all  which  incloseth  one 
faire  and  large  court,  *  *  *  all  paved  with  free 
stone,  commonly  called  the  Inner  Court:" 

"  And  also  consisting  of  one  structure  of  timber  building  of 
a  quadrengular  forme,  pleasantly  situated  upon  the  highest 
parte  of  the  said  Nonsuch  Parke,  commonly  called  the 
Banquetting  House,  being  compassed  round  with  a  brick  wall, 
the  four  corners  whereof  represent  four  half  moons  or  fortified 
angles ;  this  building  being  of  three  stories  high,  *  *  ♦ 
the  stanchions  and  out  postes  of  which  banquetting  house  are 
all  covered  with  lead ;  over  the  thirde  story,  there  is  a  lanthorne 
placed,  covered  with  lead,  and  in  every  of  the  four  corners  of 
the  whole  house  a  helcone  placed  for  prospect." 

From  the  above  description,  it  would  appear 
that  the  "  banquetting  house  "  was  detached  from 
the  main  building,  and  placed  so  as  to  serve 
equally  for  outpost  as  a  dining  chamber  ;  disposed 
somewhat  after  the  Italian  manner,  then  in  vogue. 
This  is  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  the  fashion 
of  dining  together  in  the  great  hall  was,  in  the 
16th  century,  falling  into  disuse,  greater  pro- 
minence being  given  to  the  so-called  '*  banquetting 
house." 

Ordinances  for  the  Royal  household  in  1526 
state  that  "sundrie  noblemen  and  gentlemen  doe 
much  delighte,  and  use  to  dyne  in  corners  and 
secret  places,  and  not  repay  ring  to  the  King's 
chamber  or  hall." 


NONSUCH.  201 

The  Park  is  so  often  mentioned  in  the  State 
papers  of  the  17th  century,  that  it  almost  claims 
a  chapter  for  itself. 

Henry  VIII.  made  the  two  parks,  called  the 
Great  and  Little  Parks — at  one  time  they  were 
partly  turned  into  tillage,  and  strong  measures 
were  taken  to  impark  them  again,  and  enlarge 
their  area,  so  much  that  several  warrants  were 
granted  for  land  to  extend  the  boundaries  ;  the 
two  lodges  were  repaired,  enlarged,  and  improve- 
ments were  constant.  Worcester  Park  was  in- 
cluded in  the  Great  Park,  attached  to  Nonsuch, 
but  was  sold  about  1750.  The  Survey  then 
states : — 

"The  trees  within  the  Parke  aforesaid,  already  marked 
forth  for  the  use  of  the  navie,  are  found  to  be  in  number 
two  thousand  eight  hundred  and  five,  two  hundred  whereof 
growe  so  neare  unto  Nonsuch  house,  and  in  such  a  decent 
order,  being  a  speciall  ornament  thereunto,  that  the  cutting 
down  thereof  will  not  only  very  much  impayre  the  magni- 
ficence of  the  structure,  but  will  also  exceedingly  detract  from 
the  pleasantness  of  the  seate  which  we  humbly  make  bould  to 
certifie." 

We  hear  of  Nonsuch  again  in  1663,  when 
Pepys  writes,  that  he  saw  a  famous  race  on 
Banstead  Downs,  rode  through  Epsom,  and  then 
goes    through    Nonsuch    Park    to    the     House 


202  BYGONE  SURREY. 

"looks  through  the  great  gates,  and  found 
a   noble  court." 

Three  years  later,  the  fire  of  London  raged, 
and  to  this  Surrey  mansion  the  Exchequer's 
money  was  sent  for  safety. 

Pepys  again  describes  it  as  a  "  fine  palace  and 
prospect,  a  great  walk  of  elm  and  walnut,  set  one 
after  another  in  order,  all  the  house  has  the 
outside  filled  with  figures  of  stories,  the  house 
covered  with  lead  and  gilded."  His  brother 
diarist,  Evelyn,  always  more  minute  in  his 
artistic  descriptions,  "  took  an  exact  view  of  the 
plaster  statues  and  bas-relievos,  inserted  'twixt 
the  timbers  and  stanchions  of  the  outside  walls  of 
the  court,  which  must  needs  have  been  the  work 
of  some  celebrated  Italian.  I  much  admired  how 
it  lasted  so  well,  and  entire  since  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.,  exposed  as  they  are  to  the  air.  .  . 
There  are  some  mezzo-relievos  as  big  as  the 
life  ;  the  story  is  of  the  heathen  gods,  emblems, 
compartments,  etc." 

There  stand  in  the  garden  two  handsome 
stone  pyramids,  and  the  avenue  is  planted  with 
rows  of  fair  elms,  but  the  rest  of  the  goodly  trees 
of  this  and  Worcester  Park  adjoining  were  felled 
by  those  destructive  rebels  in  the  late  war,  and  thus 


NONSUCH.  203 

was  defaced  one  of  the  stateliest  seats  his  Majesty 
possessed.     In  the  gardens,  there  was  a  fountain 
set  about  in  six  hlacs,  and  these  have  been  said 
to    be    the    first    lilacs    brought   into    England. 
Charles   II.   gave    Nonsuch  to  the  Duchess   of 
Cleveland, — then  its  historic  days  are  over,  for  to 
feed  her  extravagance,  that  unprincipled  favourite 
sold    the    materials,    with    which    the    Earl    of 
Berkeley    erected    the    "  Durdans "   at    Epsom, 
afterwards  destroyed   by  fire   in    1764.      It  was 
hardly  to  be  expected  otherwise  of  the  Duchess, 
"  who   when  she   had  a  point  to  gain  with  the 
king,  had  resource  either  to   smiles   or  rage,  as 
the  case  might  require." 

The  Duke  of  Grafton,  afterwards  acquired  the 
property,  and  it  went  through  various  changes  till 
the  year  1803,  when  the  present  modern  and 
elegant  house,  designed  by  Jeffrey  Wyattville,  was 
built,  and  the  owner.  Captain  Farmer,  j.p.,  now 
resides  there. 


IRotee  on  (Builbfort). 

By  Frank  Lasham. 

ALTHOUGH  the  town  of  Guildford  can 
boast  of  some  antiquity,  it  must  have  been 
but  a  village  when,  about  880  a. d.,  it  is  mentioned 
as  being  a  Royal  Manor,  and  we  find  King  Alfred 
bequeathing  it  to  his  nephew  Ethel  wald,  and  it 
shortly  after  reverted  to  the  Crown. 

The  evidence  is  very  slight  as  to  the  Romans 
ever  having  been  at  Guildford.  No  coins  or  any 
other  remains  having  been  found,  which  would 
give  indications  of  their  presence.  And  yet,  not 
far  off,  at  Farley  Heath,  near  Albury,  was  an 
extensive  Romano-British  camp  or  town.  It  is 
far  from  unlikely  that  Guildford,  in  Roman  days, 
was  somewhat  inaccessible,  being  in  the  centre  of 
what  must  have  been  a  densely  wooded  district. 
A  Roman  Villa  has  been  discovered  at  Chidding- 
fold,  and  evidences  of  a  settlement  have  been 
traced  on  Puttenham  Common,  about  four  miles 
from  Guildford ;  but  with  regard  to  the  town 
itself,  it  may  be  said  the  Romans  did  not  settle 


NOTES  ON  GUILDFORD.  205 

there.  The  Saxons  seem  to  have  been  present ; 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  name  of  the  town 
arose  from  the  fact  that  some  companies  or 
fraternities  called  "  Guild  Merchants,"  settled 
on  the  banks  of  the  Wey,  and  took  toll  of 
merchandise  and  wayfarers  who  passed  across  the 
river ;  and  hence  the  origin  of  the  name  Guild- 
ford. In  1037,  when  the  Danes  were  in  possession 
of  the  Crown,  a  massacre  of  King  Alfred's  attend- 
ants seems  to  have  taken  place  at  Guildford,  and 
it  is  stated  that  some  600  Normans  were  here 
basely  destroyed.  In  1087  mention  is  made  of 
the  town,  when  Domesday  states  that  : — "  In 
Gildeforde  King  William  hath  LXXV  messuages 
or  tenements,  in  which  are  resident  CLXXV 
Tenants." 

The  early  residents  were  doubtless  tenants 
under  homage,  engaged  in  trade,  but  free  of  the 
town. 

The  greater  part  of  Guildford  was  situated 
then  on  the  west  side  of  the  River  Wey,  and  not 
as  now.  The  Royal  Domain  or  King's  Chase 
being  on  the  west  side,  it  was  natural  that  the 
inhabitants  should  reside  near  what  must  have 
been  to  them  a  means  of  subsistence. 

The  rest  of  the   Royal  Domain  which  lay  on 


206  BYGONE  SURREY. 

this  side  of  the  river  was  reserved  for  the  King's 
private  use,  and  was  converted  into  a  Park  by- 
Henry  II.,  who  added  some  palatial  buildings  to 
the  Castle,  in  which  he  and  many  of  the 
subsequent  sovereigns  kept  their  court.  Part  of 
the  domain  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  town  was 
occupied  by  the  Castle,  part  alienated  to  the 
family  of  Testard,  from  one  of  whose  successors  it 
became  known  as  the  manor  of  Poyle,  and  the 
remainder  disposed  of  to  make  room  for  the 
Priory,  which  was  founded  by  Queen  Eleanor, 
Consort  of  Henry  II. 

It  appears  that  a  charter  of  Henry  III.,  grant- 
ed to  the  town,  speaks  of  "approved  men"  as 
already  in  existence.  If  so,  there  must  have  been 
a  body  politic  already  then  in  existence,  and  we 
may  safely  affirm  that  the  town  had  been  in 
possession  of  Corporate  rights  long  before  the 
reign  of  Henry  III. 

The  Castle. 

The  Castle  of  Guildford,  of  which  now  scarcely 
anything  but  the  square  Keep  remains,  originally 
occupied  a  considerable  eminence  to  the  south  of 
the  site  of  the  present  High  Street,  and  was  very 
extensive :     the    domestic    buildings    have    now 


NOTES  ON  GUILDFORD.  207 

nearly    all     disappeared.       Very    few    authentic 
records  as  to  its  foundations  are  extant,  but   it   is 
spoken  of  as  taking  the  place  of  a  Saxon  fortress 
or   stockade,  and    was    built    about  the   time   of 
Henry  II.     The  Keep  is  built  upon  an  artificial 
mound  of  chalk,  which  was  at  one  time  surround- 
ed by  a  double  ditch,  the  inner  part    of  which    is 
still  in  existence.     It  is  evident  from  the  situation 
and  general  features  of  the  Castle  that  it  must 
have    been    built    to    overawe    or    protect    the 
neighbourhood.    Situated  as  it  is,  near  the  ford  of 
the  river  Wey,  it  had  an  important  influence  over 
the   district.      Its   construction    would    seem    to 
indicate  a  close  resemblance  to  that  of  Rochester, 
erected  by  Bishop  Gundulph,  it  may  therefore  be 
considered  to  be  about  the  same  age.     The  Castle 
is  mentioned  in  the  reign  of  King  John,   1216 
when  it  seems  to  have  been  captured  by  Prince 
Louis  the  Dauphin  of  France.     About  1299  it  was 
used  as  a  common  prison  for  the  King's  prisoners. 
In   the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Richard   II., 
Sir  Simon   Burleigh,   "  sage  and  wise,"  was  its 
Constable.       Gradually   the    Castle    appears    to 
have  lost  its  grandeur,  and   from    having  been  a 
palace,     appears     more      than     ever     to     have 
degenerated  and  become  a  very  common  prison, 


208  BYGONE  SURREY. 

for  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  it  was  crowded 
with  malefactors  from  the  counties  of  Surrey  and 
Sussex.  In  the  reign  of  James  I.  it  appears  to 
have  been  granted  to  the  family  of  Carter,  who 
did  their  best  to  raze  it  to  the  ground.  One  of 
the  descendants  of  this  family  appears  to  have 
been  dis-franchized  and  dismissed  from  the  free- 
dom of  the  Corporation  of  the  Town.  The  Keep 
and  grounds  are  now  the  property  of  the 
Corporation,  having  been  purchased  by  them 
from  Lord  Grantley. 

With  regard  to  the  structure  of  the  Keep,  the 
original  access  to  the  interior  was  on  the  first 
story,  reached  by  a  flight  of  stairs  from  the 
exterior.  The  Keep  is  of  quadrangular  shape,  and 
its  walls  are  in  many  places  over  ten  feet  thick. 
The  ascent  to  the  battlements  was  made  by  a 
circular  staircase  on  the  north-west  side. 
Originally  there  were  three  stories,  the  lower 
used  for  prisoners,  and  the  second  and  third  floors 
were  for  the  residence  of  the  governor.  Within 
the  thickness  of  the  walls  are  several  chambers, 
and  among  them  is  an  oratory,  on  the  walls  of 
which  are  some  curious  carvings,  in  the  chalk,  of 
a  semi-religious  nature,  and  most  probably  the 
work  of  prisoners.     Many  of  the  historians  of  the 


NOTES  ON  GUILDFORD, 


209 


Castle  have  quoted  the  fact  that  there  were 
vaults  within  the  Keep  itself,  it  can  now  be  stated 
that  during  the  alterations  made  to  fit  the  Castle 
grounds  for  a  pleasure  ground,  some  excavations 
were  specially  made  to  ascertain  if  this  were  so, 
but  the  result  was  to  entirely  negative  the 
suggestion. 


GTTII.DFOKD. 

(Frovi  an  old  print.) 


Abbot's  Hospital 
Is  situated  on  the  North  side  of  High  Street, 
opposite  Holy  Trinity  Church.      It  is  a  pictur- 
esque and  well  preserved  building,  and  forms  one 
of  the   most   interesting'  features   of  the   town. 

U 


210  BYGONE  SURREY. 

It  was  founded  in  the  seventeenth  century  by 
George  Abbot,  son  of  an  honest  cloth  weaver,  and  his 
wife,  who  resided  in  Guildford,  and  whose  progeny 
were  both  numerous  and  fortunate.  George 
Abbot,  who  became  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
was  born  October  29th,  1562.  He  was  educated  at 
the  Free  Grammar  School,  and  thence  removed  to 
Oxford  ;  he  successively  filled  the  Bishoprics  of 
Lichfield  and  London,  and  in  1611  was  enthroned 
in  the  See  of  Canterbury. 

Abbot  was  in  his  high  office  zealous  in  carrying 
out  the  opinions  he  embraced  in  his  early  life, 
those  of  the  Calvinists,  which  rather  inclined  him 
to  persecution,  and  occasionally  he  went  beyond 
the  bounds  of  moderation.  The  story  of  the 
original  foundation  of  the  Hospital  being  brought 
about  by  the  Archbishop  slaying  by  accident  an 
attendant  at  the  Chase  is  now  discredited,  and  as 
a  matter  of  fact  was  never  alluded  to  by  the 
Archbishop  as  having  taken  place.  The  street 
front  of  the  building  measures  eighty-one  feet.  It 
has  a  fine  square  tower  with  octagonal  turrets. 
Over  the  entrance  gates  is  the  motto  from  Virgil 
"  Deus  nobis  hsec  otia  fecit."  The  gates 
themselves  are  ornamented  with  the  arms  of 
Abbot  and  of  the  Diocese  of  Canterbury. 


NOTES  ON  GUILDFORD.  211 

Within  is  a  quadrangle  of  fine  proportions. 
The  brothers  number  twelve  and  the  sisters  eight, 
and  they  are  quartered  on  either  side  of  the 
quadrangle. 

Several  of  the  rooms  are  of  great  interest,  and 
contain  carved  oak  mantel-pieces.  In  the  north- 
east- corner  of  the  building  is  the  chapel,  in  which 
are  some  fine  stained  glass  windows. 

The  first  master  of  the  Hospital  was  the 
founder's  brother  Richard.  The  Archbishop  in 
addition  to  founding  the  Hospital,  started  a 
factory  for  cloth,  and  a  building  at  the  rear  was 
set  apart  as  the  manufactory,  but  this  has  long 
since  been  discontinued.  Abbot's  monument  is 
at  Holy  Trinity  Church. 

Royal  Grammar  School, 
In  the  upper  part  of  the  High  Street,  was 
founded  by  Robert  Beckingham,  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  VI.  Over  the  entrance  are  placed  the 
Royal  Arms  of  England,  with  the  inscription, 
"  Scholia  Regia  Grammaticalis  Edwardi  Sexti 
1550."  No  less  than  five  prelates  of  the  Church 
of  England  received  their  education  here,  viz.  : — 
John  Parkhurst,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  1560 ; 
William    Cotton,    Bishop    of    Salisbury,     1598  ; 


212  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Robert    Abbot,    Bishop     of    Salisbury,     1615 ; 
George  Abbot,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  1610. 

St.  Mary's  Church, 

Quarry  Street,  is  a  structure  the  foundation  of 
which  has  been  attributed  to  the  Testard  family, 
but  is  supposed  by  some  to  be  even  older 
than  their  days.  The  most  ancient  parts  of  the 
fabric,  those  beneath  and  around  the  tower,  are 
regarded  as  Saxon.  The  church,  dedicated  to 
the  Virgin  Mary,  is  built  of  chalk  flints  and 
pebbles ;  there  are  two  chapels,  one  dedicated  to 
St.  John,  and  the  other  to  St.  Mary.  These 
chapels-  have  circular  ends,  but  it  is  doubtful  if 
the  chancel  was  at  one  time  so  finished,  recent 
excavations  revealing  nothing  to  prove  that 
foundations  existed  in  the  soil,  which  is  of  chalk, 
and  was  evidently  undisturbed. 

The  general  architectural  characteristics  of  the 
church  are  Norman,  but  the  styles  are  mixed,  the 
nave  being  separated  from  the  two  aisles  by 
pointed  arches.  The  aisles  are  broad  and  the 
chancel  is  raised,  doubtless  from  the  configuration 
of  the  ground  ;  it  has  a  richly  groined  roof  In 
the  chapel  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  within  the 
spandrels  of  the  roof  are  some  curious  paintings 


NOTES  ON  GUILDFORD.  213 

executed  about  the  time  of  Henry  III.  They  are 
of  a  rehgious  character,  but  it  is  greatly  to  be 
feared  that  owing  to  their  situation  they  will  ere 
long  be  lost  to  view. 

The  Friary. 

There  were  at  one  time  two  monasteries  at 
Guildford.  The  principal  one,  for  Black  friars, 
was  situated  on  the  bank  of  the  River  Wey, 
and  in  common  with  other  religious  houses  it 
was  suppressed  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  and 
passed  to  the  Crown. 

The  old  house  was  pulled  down,  and  the  hand- 
some building  erected  on  the  site  about  1600 
was  used  as  the  principal  lodge  to  the 
Royal  Manor.  After  undergoing  a  variety  of 
changes,  this  house  was  eventually  demolished, 
and  nothing  now  remains  to  indicate  that  such  a 
place  ever  existed,  beyond  the  name  of  the  street. 
At  the  opposite  end  of  the  town  was  a  house  of 
Crutched  Friars,  known  as  the  Spital  of  St. 
Thomas,  this  was  at  the  end  of  Spital  Street. 

St.  Catherine's  Chapel 
Is  in  the  tything  of  Artington,  in  the  Parish  of 
St.   Nicholas.       It  stands  on  a  hill  close  by  the 


214  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Portsmouth  Road  and  the  River  Wey.  Tradi- 
tion speaks  of  this  Chapel  and  St.  Martha's  as 
being  built  by  two  sisters.  They  are,  however, 
situated  on  what  is  called  "■  The  Pilgrim's  Way," 
and  are  doubtless  in  some  way  connected  with  that 
ancient  road.  St.  Catherine's  Chapel  is  men- 
tioned in  the  pipe  rolls  of  Henry  III.,  and  was 
purchased  by  Richard  de  Wauncy,  parson  of  St. 
Nicholas,  29th  Edward  I.,  and  by  him  re-built. 

The  same  Richard  also  procured  a  charter  for  a 
fair  to  be  held  on  the  hill,  and  this  is  still 
continued  every  October. 

Holy  Trinity  Church 
Stands  in  the  upper  part  of  the  High  Street;  it 
is  a  modern  structure  of  red  brick.  The  ancient 
church  was  probably  built  by  the  Testard  family. 
There  were  two  chantries  connected  with  this 
church,  called  Norbrigge  and  Kingestones.  The 
principal  object  of  interest  in  the  church  is  the 
tomb  of  Archbishop  Abbot.  The  figure  of  the 
archbishop  is  lying  at  full  length  on  an  altar  tomb, 
under  a  canopy  supported  by  six  black  marble 
pillars.  The  monument  was  erected  at  the  expense 
of  Sir  Maurice  Abbot,  in  1640.  There  are  other 
monuments  to  the  memory  of  Sir  Robert  Park- 


NOTES  ON  GUILDFORD.  215 

hurst,  and  a  brass  plate  to  the   memory  of  the 
father  and  mother  of  the  archbishop. 

The  Crypts. 
There  are  two  crypts  in  the  High  Street,  one 
under  the  Angel  Hotel,  and  the  other  under  the 
premises  now  occupied  by  the  Savings  Bank.  It 
has  been  stated  that  these  crypts  were  connected 
with  the  castle  outworks,  but  this  seems  very 
doubtfal,  the  probability  is  that  at  first  they  were 
constructed  as  oratories,  and  afterwards  became 
storage  places  for  wines,  the  sale  of  which  was 
possibly  then  monopolized  by  royalty.  Between 
the  two  crypts  originally  stood  the  market  cross. 

St.  Nicholas  Church 
Is  a  modern  building.  Dr.  Monsell  was  one  of 
its  former  rectors.  The  Losely  Chapel  on  the 
south  side  of  the  church  contains  a  tomb  to  a 
former  rector,  and  the  family  tomb  of  the  Mores 
of  Losely,  near  Guildford.  Sir  Wm.  More, 
and  Margaret,  his  wife,  lie  buried  here,  and  are 
represented,  the  husband  in  armour,  and  the  wife 
in  the  costume  of  the  period. 

Sutton  Place 
Is  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Guildford,  and  was 
built  by  Sir  Richard  Weston,  in  1523-1525.     It 


216  BYGONE  SURREY. 

is  a  fine  specimen  of  the  architecture  of  the 
period,  and  has  been  described  in  minute  detail 
by  Mr.  Harrison,  in  his  history  of  the  house, 
pubHshed  by  Messrs.  Macmillan.  The  house  is 
one  of  the  earhest  built  on  the  lines  of  a  domestic 
mansion  or  manor  house,  and  was  evidently  a 
place  of  "much  quietude  and  retirement." 
Terra  cotta  is  largely  used  in  its  construction, 
and  moulded  ornaments  are  frequent.  The 
designs  were  evidently  those  of  an  Italian  artist, 
who,  together  with  the  builder,  produced  a  fine 
result.  The  general  idea  of  architecture  of  the 
house  is  Tudor,  rather  than  Gothic,  and  entirely 
English  in  character.  The  profuse  ornamentation 
is  of  a  very  delicate  character,  and  does  not  follow 
the  rather  coarse  outlines  of  the  Jacobean  and 
Elizabethan  builders. 

The  use  of  terra  cotta  is  not  unusual  in  the 
domestic  architecture  of  this  period,  as  is  shown 
by  similar  details  in  the  Tower  of  Layer  Marney, 
in  Essex. 


a  fforaotten  ©orou^b. 

By  George  Clinch. 

IN  many  parts  of  the  Weald  of  Surrey  it  is  only 
necessary  to  take  a  cross-country  walk,  away 
from  the  railways,  and  the  beaten  track  of  the 
chief  roads,  in  order  to  discover  traces  of  primitive 
manners  and  speech,  and  ancient  and  picturesque 
buildings  among  rural  surroundings. 

The  lower  part  of  the  southern  slope  of  the 
North  Downs  is  marked  by  an  irregular  line  of 
roadway,  upon  which  are  situated  many  old- 
fashioned  towns  and  villages,  such  as  Dorking, 
Reigate,  Albury,  Gomshall,  Oxted,  Godstone,  and 
Blechingley.  The  last  named  place  is  of  a 
peculiarly  interesting  character.  Its  wide, 
rambling  street,  its  fine  church  with  embattled 
tower,  and  the  general  style  and  appearance  of 
its  houses,  are  all  suggestive  of  ancient  importance. 
According  to  popular  rumour,  Blechingley  once 
possessed  seven  churches,  and  a  palace  belonging 
to  Earl  Godwin,  who  is  said  to  have  made  this 
his  retreat   after   his   lands   in    Kent   had    been 


218  BYGONE  SURREY. 

swallowed  up  by  the  sea,  in  the  eleventh  century. 
Blechingley  Castle,  of  which  only  the  foundations 
remained  when  Bray's  account  of  the  parish  was 
written,  has  also  been  attributed  to  Earl  Godwin. 
It  is  impossible  to  say  to  what  extent  these 
vague  rumours  are  founded  on  truth,  but  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  Blechingley  was  a  place  of 
importance  in  early  times.  At  the  time  of  the 
Domesday  Survey,  there  were  two  manors  here 
called  Civentone  and  Blachingelie.  The  first  is 
merely  represented  by  the  modern  name  Chiving- 
ton,  and  the  latter,  by  long  association,  has  come  to 
be  applied  to  the  whole  parish.  Nothing  definite  is 
known  as  to  the  date  and  builder  of  the  Castle, 
but  at  the  time  of  the  Domesday  Survey  it 
belonged  to  Richard  de  Tonbridge,  Earl  of  Clare, 
and  it  continued  in  the  possession  of  the  same 
family  for  many  successive  generations.  In  the 
year  1263,  whilst  in  the  possession  of  Gilbert  de 
Clare,  Earl  of  Gloucester,  it  was  demolished  by 
the  King's  forces  commanded  by  Prince  Edward, 
afterwards  Edward  I.  It  is  understood  to  have 
been  afterwards  restored,  and  was  conveyed  by 
marriage  to  the  Stafibrds,  Dukes  of  Buckingham. 
Subsequently  it  formed  a  part  of  the'  settlement 
made  by  Henry  VIII.   on  his  divorced  queen, 


A  FORGOTTEN  BOROUGH. 


219 


Anne  of  Cleves.  In  more  recent  times  it  has 
been  owned  by  the  famihes  of  Chohneley  and 
Gaynsford. 

Pendell,  a  fine  old  mansion  in  this  parish,  was 
built  early  in  the  17th  century,  and  from  the 
discovery  of  a  Roman  hypocaust,  in  an  adjoining 


BLECHINGLEV. 


field,  it  may  be  concluded  that  this  district  was 
inhabited  at  a  very  early  date.  During  the 
middle  ages,  the  population  probably  increased 
considerably,  for,  as  early  as  1294,  Blechingley 
was  of  sufficient  importance  to  rank  as  a  borough, 
and    to     send     two     members     to     Parliament. 


220  BYGONE  SURREY. 

Previously  to  1733,  the  elections  took  place  in  the 
old-fashioned  style  in  a  large  house  called  the  Hall, 
and  after  that  date,  at  the  White  Hart  Inn.  It 
is  recorded  that  the  reversion  of  the  borough 
upon  one  occasion  was  sold  for  sixty  thousand 
pounds.  Anciently  the  number  of  electors  was 
about  one  hundred  and  thirty,  but  in  more  recent 
times,  the  voters  actually  attending  the  election 
numbered  only  about  eight  or  ten.  It  was  one  of 
the  most  scandalous  of  all  the  pocket-boroughs  on 
record,  and  could  scarcely  be  paralleled  except  by 
Gatton  and  Old  Sarum. 

The  last  member  for  Blechingley  was  Lord 
Palmerston,  and  the  borough  was  disfranchised 
by  the  First  Reform  Act  of  1832. 


jEarli?  Surrey  3^^u9t^e6. 

By  George  Clinch. 

AMONG  many  other  circumstances  which 
render  the  county  of  Surrey  remarkable, 
we  must  reckon  the  fact  that  several  of  our 
industries,  and  the  various  contrivances  for  the 
saving  of  labour,  as  well  as  what  may  be 
characterised  as  luxuries,  were  introduced  into 
this  county  at  an  earlier  date  than  in  any  other 
part  of  the  country.  The  proximity  to  the 
British  Metropolis  may  have  had  something  to 
do  with  this,  but  it  must  also  be  admitted  that 
the  advanced  civilization  of  the  inhabitants,  and 
the  natural  wealth  of  the  soil,  have  been  reasons 
of  a  by  no  means  unimportant  character. 

The  manufacture  of  cloth  and  woollen  goods 
at  Guildford,  Godalming,  Shere,  and  the  adjacent 
villages,  dates  from  an  early  period,  and  there 
were  in  that  district  some  of  the  earliest  paper- 
mills  and  fulling-mills  in  the  kingdom. 

It  is  well  known  that  a  flourishing  trade  in 
iron  was  carried  on  in  many  parts  of  the  Wealden 


222  BYGONE  SURREY. 

district  of  Sussex,  and  in  a  smaller  way,  in  the 
Wealds  of  Surrey  and  Kent  also.  The  great 
antiquity  to  which  the  industry  has  been  traced 
back,  however,  is  very  remarkable.  The  Romans 
extracted  iron  at  Maresfield,  Framfield,  Sedles- 
combe,  Westfield,  and  Chiddingly,  in  Sussex,  and 
probably  at  Cowden,  in  Kent.  Mr.  W.  Boyd 
Dawkins  has  shown  that  iron  was  probably 
worked  near  Battle  in  pre-Roman  times. 

In  the  State  Paper  Office  there  is  still 
preserved  a  return,  ordered  in  1574,  of  all  owners 
of  ironworks  in  Kent,  Surrey,  and  Sussex.  This 
is  the  earliest  known  account  which  shows  the 
extent  to  which  iron- working  in  the  Weald  was 
carried. 

Iron  articles  made  in  the  Weald  are  often 
met  with  in  old  farm-houses  and  cottages. 
Fire-backs  and  andirons,  or  "fire-dogs,"  and  even 
"tombstones"  were  frequently  made  of  Weald 
iron,  and  at  Wadhurst  alone  there  are  said  to  be 
thirty  iron  memorials  of  this  kind  still  remaining. 

The  cause  of  the  decay  of  this  trade  in  iron, 
was  not  failure  of  the  iron  ore,  but  scarcity  of 
fuel.  The  serious  drain  upon  the  woodlands 
entailed  by  charcoal  furnaces,  led  to  the  passing 
of  act«  of  parliament  for  their  protection.     The 


EARLY  SURREY  INDUSTRIES.  223 

act  of  the  first  year  of  Queen  Elizabeth  did  not 
apply  to  "  the  county  of  Sussex,  nor  to  the  Weild 
of  Kent,  nor  to  anie  the  parishes  of  Chalewood, 
Newdigate,  and  Legh,  in  the  Weild  of  the 
countie  of  Surrey."  Another  act,  passed  in  the 
23rd  year  of  Queen  Elizabeth  (1581),  does  not 
include  "  the  woods  of  Christopher  Darrell, 
gentleman,  in  the  parish  of  Newdegate,  within 
the  weald  of  the  countie  of  Surrie,  which  woods 
of  the  said  Christopher  have  heretofore  beene, 
and  be  by  him  preserved  and  coppised  for  the  use 
of  his  iron  works  in  those  parts."  Another  act, 
passed  in  the  27th  year  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and 
entitled  "An  act  for  the  preservation  of  timber 
in  the  wilds  of  the  counties  of  Sussex,  Surrey, 
and  Kent,  and  for  the  amendment  of  the  high 
waies,  decaied  by  carriage  to  and  from  the  iron 
mils  there,"  prohibits  the  building  of  new  iron- 
works, except  upon  old  sites,  or  where  the  owner 
can  supply  fuel  from  his  own  woods. 

The  final  blow  to  the  Wealden  iron  trade  was 
given  by  the  introduction  of  pit-coal  in  smelting. 
The  trade  rapidly  declined  after  the  year  1735, 
and  in  1828  Ashburnham  Furnace,  the  last  in 
Sussex,  was  extinguished. 

The  ore   most  commonly    used    was    the    clay 


224  BYGONE  SURREY. 

ironstone,  which  occurs  in  nodules  and  thin  beds 
towards  the  bottom  of  what  is  geologically  known 
as  the  Wadhurst  Clay.  It  was  obtained  by  means 
of  pits  rarely  more  than  twenty  feet  deep,  and 
widening  from  a  diameter  of  about  six  feet  at  the 
top  to  a  much  greater  diameter  at  the  bottom. 
A  great  many  of  the  pits  remain,  and  they  are 
generally  full  of  water. 

Iron  ore  in  considerable  abundance  has  been 
found  in  the  south-western  part  of  Surrey,  about 
Haslemere,  Dunsfold  and  Cranley,  and  in  the 
south-eastern  part  about  Lingfield  and  Home. 
In  Surrey  and  West  Sussex,  the  "  ragstone,"  as  it 
is  called,  which  lies  on  the  Weald  Clay,  has  been 
used  for  smelting. 

The  quaint  pages  of  Aubrey  contain  the  follow- 
ing particulars  of  a  search  for  coal  in  the  parish 
of  Worplesdon,  which  are  very  interesting  in  view 
of  the  recent  experimental  borings  in  search  of 
coal  in  the  Wealden  area  : — 

"  Mr.  Giles  Thornborough,  Rector  of  St. 
Nicholas,  and  the  Holy  Trinity,  at  Guildford,  one 
of  His  Majesty's  chaplains,  digging  and  boring 
after  coal,  in  Slyfield-green,  in  this  parish,  found 
Ist,  of  sand  and  gravel,  seven  feet  depth ;  then  a 
spring  :  within  a  little  of  that,  a  bed  of  stones  like 


EARLY  SURREY  INDUSTRIES.  225 

square  caps,  and  about  two  feet  every  way  ;  on 

the  outside,  whitish ;  within,  full  of  sulphur,  out 

of  which  was  extracted  tin,  by  Lander  Smith,  of 

London,  engraver.     These    stones  are    called,  at 

the  coal-pitts   at   Newcastle,  Catts'-heads,  lying 

always  (they  say)  where  coal  is.     The  depth  of 

this  bed  lay  not  above  one  yard.    These  catts'-heads 

are  all  full  of  small  pipes  for  the  mine  to  breathe 

through.     Next  under  them,  lay  a  body  of  black 

clay  (without  any  stone  or  mixture)  for  15  fathoms  ; 

then  a  rock  of  stone,  about  a  yard  thick,  which 

was  very  hard ;  then  they   came  to  black  clay 

again  for  about  three  fathoms,  and  then  another 

rock ;  after  that,  clay  mixed  with  minerals  :  then 

cockle-shells  and  periwinkle-shells,  out  of  which 

Prince  Rupert  extracted  tinn  and  other  things, 

and  some  filled  with  clay ;  after  this  sprung  a  bed 

of  oker,  12  foot  thick  ;  a  kind  of  mother-of-pearl ; 

after  that,  a  green  quicksand.     Then  came  coal, 

which,  how  deep  it  is,  is  unknown ;  for  here  the 

irons  broke,  thought  by  Mr.  Lilley,  the  astrologer, 

to  be  by  the  subterranean  spirits ;  for  as  fast  as 

the  irons  were  put  in  they  would  snap  off.     This 

is  a  kind  of  rocky  coal  (like  that  which  they  call 

kennel-coal,)  which  burns  like  a  candle. 

"The  inducement  to  Mr.  Thornborough  to  be  at 

15 


226  BYGONE  SURREY. 

this  charge  and  search,  was  that  there  was  a  kind 
of  stoney  coal  (that  would  burn,)  which  he  found 
by  grubbing  up  the  roots  of  an  old  oak  in  his 
grounds  here. 

"  Fullers'-earth,  like  clay  (which  is  mixed  with 
brimstone, )  lay  about  20  fathoms,  and  one  or  two 
yards  thick." 

The  use  of  regular  coal  for  fuel  seems  to  have 
been  first  introduced  into  the  interior  part  of 
Surrey  at  the  time  the  Wey  was  made  navigable 
from  Weybridge  to  Guildford — towards  the  end 
of  the  17th  century.  This  means  of  transit 
supplied  the  western  part  of  the  county,  and  in 
the  beginning  of  the  18th  century  use  was  made 
of  the  River  Wandle  for  the  conveyance  of  coal 
as  far  as  Croydon. 

In  Camden's  time  there  were  pits  of  jet,  near 
Okewood,  and  Evelyn  says  that  in  his  time  there 
were  "pits  of  jeate,  in  the  skirts  of  the  parish  of 
Wotton,  near  Sussex."  No  traces  of  jet  are  now 
apparent,  however. 

Fullers'  Earth  exists  in  great  quantities  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Nutfield,  Blechingley,  and 
Reigate,  and  it  has  been  dug  for  commercial 
purposes  for  centuries.  "  The  oldest  pit  now 
wrought,"  said  a  writer  in  1813,  "is  said  to  have 


EARLY  SURREY  INDUSTRIES.  227 

lasted  between  fifty  and  sixty  years ;  but  it*  is  fast 
wearing  out."  ..."  The  yellow  and  blue 
earths  are  of  different  qualities,  and  are  used  for 
different  purposes  :  the  former,  which  is  deemed 
the  best,  is  employed  in  fulling  the  kerseymeres 
and  finer  cloths  of  Wiltshire  and  Gloucestershire  ; 
the  blue  is  principally  sent  into  Yorkshire  for  the 
coarser  cloths.  The  price  at  the  pits  for  either 
kind  is  6s.  the  ton."  In  the  year  1730  the  price 
of  it  at  the  pit  was  4d.  a  sack,  and  6s.  a  load,  and 
in  1744  the  price  remained  nearly  the  same. 

A  good  many  localities  in  Surrey  have  yielded 
brick-earth,  and  at  Nonsuch,  in  the  parish  of 
Cheam,  is  a  very  singular  and  valuable  bed  of 
earth,  from  which  bricks  capable  of  resisting  an 
intense  heat  were  made.  It  was  worked  at  an 
early  date,  and  from  the  following  account  by 
Leland,  it  appears  to  have  been  used  in  making 
crucibles  in  his  time.  Speaking  of  Cuddington 
(the  ancient  name  of  Nonsuch),  he  says 
"  Crompton,  of  London,  hath  a  close  by  Cudding- 
ton, in  Southery,  where  the  King  buildeth.  In 
this  close  is  a  vaine  of  fine  yerth,  to  make  moldes 
for  goldsmiths  and  casters  of  metale,  that  a  loade 
of  it  sold  for  a  crowne  of  gold.  Like  yerth  is  not 
found  in  all  Englande." 


228  BYGONE  SURREY. 

M^rstham  Stone  has  been  quarried  for  building 
purposes  for  many  years.  A  patent  (still  in 
existence)  was  granted,  in  the  time  of  Edward  III., 
to  one  John  Thomas  Prophete,  empowering  him 
to  dig  Merstham  Stone  for  use  at  Windsor  Castle, 
and  ordering  the  Sheriff  and  other  officers  to  aid 
him  by  any  means  in  their  power.  The  patent 
expressly  enjoins  that  such  men  as  refuse  to  work 
are  to  be  seized  by  the  Sheriffs  officers,  and  placed 
in  durance  vile  in  the  royal  castle. 

This  stone  becomes  hardened  after  exposure  to 
the  air.  The  Chapel  of  Henry  VII.  at  West- 
minster Abbey  was  constructed  of  Merstham 
Stone. 

Firestone  is  found  in  considerable  quantities  in 
Surrey,  and  there  are  quarries  of  it  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Godstone,  Gatton,  Merstham, 
Reigate,  and  Blechingley.  The  stone  when  first 
dug  out  of  the  quarry,  particularly  that  at 
Merstham,  is  soft,  and  unable  to  bear  the  action  of 
a  damp  atmosphere,  but  after  it  has  been  under 
cover  for  a  few  months,  its  texture  becomes 
compact,  and  it  will  resist  the  action  of  fire. 
There  is  a  variety  of  this  stone  found  near 
Blechingley,  which  was  formerly  much  used  by 
chemists,  bakers,  and  glass-makers.     It  is  much 


EARL Y  SURREY  IND USTRIES.  229 

softer  than  the  stone  from  the  other  quarries,  and 
requires  more  skill  in  working  it.  Malcolm  thus 
writes  of  it: — *'It  is  of  such  a  peculiarly  fine 
quality  for  sustaining  the  utmost  heat,  that  it  is 
sought  after  by  all  the  principal  glass 
manufacturers  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom,  large 
quantities  being  now  shipped  for  Liverpool  and 
the  North.  It  was  principally  owing  to  the 
powerful  effects  of  this  stone,  which  became  known 
to  Mr.  Dawson,  the  original  proprietor  of  the 
Vauxhall  plate-glass  works,  that  he  was  able  to 
produce  such  amazing  plates,  as  not  only  to  give 
his  glass  a  decided  preference  in  England,  but  to 
astonish  even  the  French  themselves,  from  whom 
Mr.  Dawson  discovered  the  secret  of  manufactur- 
ing plate-glass  in  the  garb  of  a  day-labourer." 

Glass-making  was  once  an  important  Surrey 
industry,  and  Chiddingfold  has  the  distinction  of 
being  the  first  recorded  place  in  which  the  trade 
was  carried  on  in  England.  Records  have  been 
discovered  which  prove  the  supply  of  glass  from 
Chiddingfold  to  St.  Stephen's  Chapel  at  West- 
minster in  1350. 

Lambeth  from  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  possessed 
an     important    manufactory    of    English     Delft 


230  BYGONE  SURREY. 

pottery.  It  was,  in  fact,  the  most  important 
manufactory  of  Delft  in  England,  and  was 
introduced  by  Dutch  workmen,  who  have  left  on 
the  earlier  specimens  produced  at  Lambeth 
strong  marks  of  Dutch  influence. 

The  chief  articles  produced  were  dishes,  wine 
pots  inscribed  Sack,  Whit,  and  Claret,  salt-cellars, 
and  other  useful  domestic  ware.  Among  the 
plates  there  is  a  set  which  often  occurs,  on  which 
are  inscribed  the  following  six  doggrel  lines  : — 

1.  "What  is  a  merry  man  ? 

2.  Let  him  do  what  he  can 

3.  To  entertain  his  guests 

4.  With  wine  and  merry  jests. 

5.  But  if  his  wife  do  frown 

6.  All  merriment  goes  down. 

The  manufacture  of  gunpowder  was  carried  on 
at  a  very  early  date  in  Surrey.  About  the  year 
1590,  George  Evelyn,  grandfather  of  the  diarist, 
received  the  royal  licence  to  erect  powder  mills  at 
Long  Ditton  and  Godstone.  The  art  of  making 
gunpowder  is  said  to  have  been  brought  from 
Holland  by  the  Evelyn  family.  In  1626  the 
East  India  Company's  powder-works  were  in 
existence  in  Surrey. 

The  first  mills  in  England  for  casting,  hammer- 
ing, and  wiring  brass,  were  erected  at  Wotton   in 


EARLY  SURREY  INDUSTRIES.  231 

Surrey.  The  mode  in  which  the  operations  were 
performed  shows  the  rude  state  of  knowledge  and 
machinery  at  that  time.  ''First,"  says  Evelyn 
in  a  letter  to  Aubrey,  "  they  dre,w  the  wire  by 
men  sitting  harnessed  in  certain  swings,  taking 
hold  of  the  brass  thongs  fitted  to  the  holes,  with 
pincers  fastened  to  a  girdle  which  went  about 
them,  and  then  with  stretching  forth  their  feet 
against  a  stump,  they  shot  their  bodies  from  it, 
closing  with  the  plate  again  ;  but  afterwards  this 
was  quite  left  off,  and  the  effect  performed  by  an 
ingenio  brought  out  of  Sweden." 

The  first  brass-works  in  England  are  said  to 
have  been  put  into  operation,  in  1649,  at  Esher, 
in  Surrey,  where  rosette-copper,  imported  from 
Sweden,  was  exclusively  employed  in  the 
manufacture ;  the  proprietor  having,  however, 
become  involved  in  a  disastrous  law-suit,  the 
establishment  was  ultimately  broken  up. 

These  works  are  said  to  have  been  established 
by  some  German  adventurers. 

The  first  clover  grown  in  England,  was  grown 
iin  Surrey,  having  been  introduced  from  Flanders, 
in  1645,  by  Sir  Richard  Weston,  of  Sutton,  near 
Guildford.  Sir  Richard  also  introduced  into 
Surrey  from  the  Netherlands  the  contrivances  for 


•232  BYGONE  SURREY. 

the  improvement  of  river  navigation,  known  as 
locks.  This  was  between  1645  and  1650,  and  the 
locks  on  the  Wey,  between  Guildford  and 
Weybridge,  which  were  formed  under  his 
direction,  are  supposed  to  be  some  of  the  first  of 
their  kind,  if  not  actually  the  first  erected  in  the 
kingdom.  It  was  not  until  about  the  end  of  the 
17th  century,  however,  that  the  system  of 
navigation  was  completed.  In  the  year  1760,  the 
navigation  was  extended  as  far  as  Godalming, 
four  locks  being  constructed  between  that  place 
and  Guildford.  A  writer,  in  1813,  mentions  that 
there  were  then  ten  barges  of  forty-five  tons 
belonging  to  the  inhabitants  of  Godalming. 

Sir  Francis  Carew,  who  married  the  niece  of 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  is  said  to  have  planted 
orange  seeds,  which  produced  some  orange  trees, 
at  Beddington.  Bishop  Gibson,  in  his  additions 
to  Camden's  Britannia,  speaks  of  them  as  having 
been  there  for  a  hundred  years  previous  to  1695. 
As  these  trees  produced  fruit,  they  could  not  have 
been  raised  from  seeds  ;  but  they  may  have  been 
brought  from  Portugal,  or  from  Italy,  as  early  as 
the  close  of  the  16th  century. 

The  trees  at  Beddington  were  planted  in  the 
open  ground,  with  a  movable   cover   to   screen 


EARLY  SURREY  INDUSTRIES.  233 

them  from  the  severe  weather  of  winter.  They 
had  attained  the  height  of  eighteen  feet,  and  the 
stems  were  about  nine  inches  in  diameter,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century ;  while  the 
spread  of  the  head  of  the  largest  one  was  twelve 
feet  one  way,  and  nine  the  other.  There  had 
always  been  a  wall  on  the  north  side  of  them, 
to  screen  them  from  the  cold  of  that  quarter,  but 
they  were  at  such  a  distance  from  the  wall  as  to 
have  room  to  spread,  and  plenty  of  air  and  light. 
In  1738  they  were  surrounded  by  a  permanent 
inclosure,  like  a  greenhouse.  They  were  all 
destroyed  in  the  following  winter ;  but  whether 
owing  to  the  severe  frost,  or  partly  to  the 
confinement  and  damp  of  the  permanent 
enclosure,  cannot  now  be  ascertained. 

Sir  Francis  Carew  appears  to  have  been  very 
skilful  in  the  culture  of  fruit  trees.  It  was  he 
who  caused  a  cherry-tree  to  be  enclosed  by  a 
damp  canvas  cover,  whereby  the  ripening  of  the 
fruit  was  delayed  till  the  expected  visit  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  occurred.  This  was  quite  a  month 
after  the  season  for  cherries  was  over  in  England. 

Mortlake  was  once  celebrated  for  the 
manufacture  of  fine  tapestry,  an  industry  which 
was  established  in  1619  by  Sir  Francis  Crane,  Knt., 


234  BYGONE  SURREY. 

under  the  patronage  of  James  I.  Charles  I.  also 
encouraged  the  art  by  liberal  grants  of  money. 
In  1623  the  celebrated  Francis  Cheyne,  a  native 
of  Bostock,  in  Lower  Saxony,  was  engaged  as 
limner.  Many  beautiful  designs  were  wrought, 
including  subjects  in  history  and  grotesque. 

The  tapestry  works  fell  into  complete  disuse 
after  they  were  deprived  of  the  royal  patronage 
in  the  time  of  Charles  II. 

One  of  the  first  iron  railways  for  horse  power 
constructed  in  the  kingdom,  and  what  may  be 
looked  upon  as  the  immediate  precursor  of  the 
steam  railways  which  were  destined  to  revolution- 
ize the  whole  region  near  London  a  few  years 
later,  was  that  between  Wandsworth  and 
Merstham,  which  was  projected  and  begun  in 
1802  and  1803.  The  part  which  extended  from 
Wandsworth  to  Croydon  was  soon  completed, 
and  it  proved  so  successful  as  to  induce  the 
proprietors  to  carry  it  on  to  Merstham. 

For  the  purpose  of  forming  a  junction  between 
the  Thames  and  the  railway,  a  large  basin  was 
constructed  at  Wandsworth,  capable  of  holding 
more  than  thirty  barges.  The  line  was  double, 
and  as  far  as  possible  followed  the  ground,  which 
was  naturally  level.     It  was  also  so  planned  as  to 


EARLY  SURREY  INDUSTRIES.  235 

approach  as  near  as  might  be  to  the  numerous 
manufactories,  which  at  that  time  covered  the 
banks  of  the  Wandle.  Short  branch  hnes 
connected  such  as  lay  out  of  the  course  of  the 
main  Kne  of  railway,  and  a  contemporary  account 
informs  us,  "  In  order  that  the  waggon  going  in 
one  direction  may  return  at  any  part  of  the  route, 
there  are  at  short  distances  diagonal  railways 
and  a  bar  of  iron  moving  on  a  pivot :  by  turning 
this  bar  the  waggon  can  be  moved  from  one  line 
to  the  other."  Thus  were  our  notions  about 
"  points  "  anticipated. 

Great  surprise  was  manifested  at  the  ease  with 
which  great  weights  could  be  pulled  along  by 
horse  power,  and  in  order  to  demonstrate  how 
useful  the  system  of  iron-rails  was  likely  to  become, 
a  "  bet  was  made  between  two  gentlemen,  that  a 
common  horse  could  draw  thirty-six  tons  for  six 
miles  along  the  road,  and  that  he  should  draw 
this  weight  from  a  dead  pull,  as  well  as  turn  it 
round  the  occasional  windings  of  the  road.  The 
24th  of  July,  1805,  was  fixed  on  for  the  trial, 
when  a  number  of  gentlemen  assembled  near 
Merstham,  to  see  this  extraordinary  triumph  of 
art.  Twelve  waggons  loaded  with  stones,  each 
waggon  weighing  above  three  tons,  were  chained 


236  B  YGONE  SURRE  Y. 

together,  and  a  horse,  taken  promiscuously  from 
the  timber-cart  of  Mr.  Harwood,  was  yoked  into 
the  team.  He  started  from  near  the  Fox  public- 
house,  and  drew  the  immense  chain  of  waggons 
with  apparent  ease  to  near  the  turnpike  at 
Croydon,  a  distance  of  six  miles,  in  one  hour  and 
forty-one  minutes,  which  is  nearly  at  the  rate  of 
four  miles  an  hour.  In  the  course  of  this  time  he 
stopped  four  times,  to  show  that  it  was  not  by 
the  impetus  of  the  descent  that  the  power  was 
acquired  ;  and  after  each  stoppage  he  drew  off  the 
chain  of  waggons  from  a  dead  rest.  Having 
gained  his  wager,  Mr.  Banks  ordered  four  more 
loaded  waggons  to  be  added  to  the  cavalcade, 
with  which  the  same  horse  again  set  off  with 
undiminished  power;  and  still  further  to  show 
the  effect  of  the  railway  in  facilitating  motion,  he 
directed  the  attending  workmen,  to  the  number 
of  about  fifty,  to  mount  on  the  waggons,  when  the 
horse  proceeded  without  the  least  distress.  After 
the  trials  the  waggons  were  taken  to  the  weighing 
machine ;  and  it  appeared  that  the  total  weight 
was  above  fifty-five  tons." 

It  was  of  course  necessary  that  the  railway 
should  be  as  nearly  level  as  possible,  and  from 
the  earliest  times  it  was  foreseen  that  the  chief  cost 


i 


EARLY  SURREY  INDUSTRIES.  237 

of  constructing  theni  would  arise  from  the  expense 
attending  the  levelKng  of  the  ground,  in  places 
which  were  not  naturally  even.  Tn  constructing 
this  railway  from  Wandsworth  to  Croydon,  there 
was  little  difficulty  or  trouble,  but  in  extending  it 
to  Merstham  there  were  many  difficulties,  and 
much  expense  was  incurred.  Several  valleys  from 
ten  to  thirty  feet  deep  lay  in  the  way,  which  it 
was  necessary  to  fill  up,  and  some  arches  had  to  be 
thrown  across  other  parts  of  the  road.  A  little 
beyond  the  Red  Lion  at  Smitham  Bottom,  an 
embankment  twenty  feet  high  was  thrown  up,  and 
an  archway  had  to  be  constructed  in  it  sufficiently 
high  to  admit  the  passage  underneath  of  a  waggon 
loaded  with  hay,  straw,  or  other  materials  from 
the  Downs  and  Caterham  Valley  to  the  London 
Road.  In  another  part  of  this  railway  it  was 
found  necessary  to  hollow  out  the  ground,  where 
an  arch  was  constructed,  so  that  sufficient  height 
of  arch  was  obtained  without  raising  the  level  of 
the  railway  too  much. 

In  these  days  when  the  whole  areas  around 
London  and  other  large  towns  are  so  thickly 
populated,  it  seems  strange  to  look  back  no 
farther  than  the  beginning  of  this  century, 
when   a  solitary   railroad  for   horse-power  pene- 


238  BYGONE  SURREY. 

trated  into  the  wild  region  as  far  only  as 
Merstham.  A  contemporary  writer  upon  the 
subject  says  : — *'  Notwithstanding  the  advantages 
of  iron  railways  with  respect  to  facility  and  motion, 
this  road  does  not  appear  to  be  much  used,  nor  is 
it  probable  that  railways  will  ever  come  into 
general  use.  The  expense  attending  the  formation 
of  them,  except  where  the  ground  is  naturally 
level,  is  enormous ;  and  it  is  evident  that 
the  advantages,  and  consequently  the  gain,  are 
confined  to  carriage  in  one  direction.  The  iron 
railwaj'^  from  Croydon  to  Wandsworth  lies 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  so  many  extensive 
manufactures,  that  it  may  possibly  answer ;  but 
the  division  from  Merstham  to  Croydon,  running 
through  a  tract  of  country  destitute  of 
manufactures,  and  having  only  the  limes,  fuller's- 
earth,  stone,  and  corn  to  depend  upon  at  the 
further  extremity,  can  never  pay  very  well." 


©^Gone  fIDerton. 

By  Rev.  E.  A.  Kempson,  m.a. 

THE  once  famous  Merton  Abbey  is  gone,  and 
the  gallant  Lord  Nelson  has  passed  away, 
but  happily  the  very  ancient  church  is  not  gone, 
nor  the  quaint  old  church  house  opposite — and 
the  river  Wandle  is  still  the  boundary  on  the 
Mitcham  side  :  water  suffers  less  change  than 
land,  as  Tennyson  says  : — 

"For  men  may  come,  and  men  may  go, 
But  I  flow  on  for  ever." 

Only  in  the  present  day  anything  worthy  of 
the  name  of  a  river  must  be  useful  as  a  condition 
of  its  existence,  and  during  its  short  course  from 
the  Banstead  hills,  there  are  few  rivers  in  the 
country  which  turn  so  many  mills,  and  supply  so 
many  fish-ponds,  as  the  river  Wandle.  One  of 
the  pastimes  of  Lord  Nelson  in  his  later  years 
(which  he  spent  at  Merton),  was  to  divert  some 
of  the  waters  of  the  Wandle  through  his  small 
domain,  and  call  it  the  "  Nile,"  but  this  has  been 
filled  up  long  ago,  and  houses  built  upon  the  site. 


240  BYGONE  SURREY. 

An  old  man  named  Hudson,  who  died  a  few  years 
ago,  at  the  age  of  ninety-five,  used  to  state  that, 
as  a  boy,  he  often  saw  Nelson  fishing  in  the 
Wandle,  near-  the  Abbey  Mill — that  he  would 
often  stop  and  speak  kindly  to  the  boys  in  the 
street,  who  regarded  his  weather-beaten  form 
and  features  possibly  with  all  the  more  reverence 
because  of  the  fruit  and  pence  which  he  used  to 
bestow  upon  the  youngsters.  This  old  man 
boasted  that  he  had  the  honour  of  shutting  the 
door  of  the  post  chaise,  in  which,  early  on  the 
morning  of  September  13th,  1805,  the  gallant 
admiral,  so  soon  afterwards  doomed  to  fall  at 
Trafalgar,  drove  off  from  the  gates  of  Merton 
Place.  This  house  at  first  really  belonged  to 
Sir  William  and  Lady  Hamilton,  but  afterwards 
it  appears  to  have  been  bought  by  Nelson,  who 
left  the  property  as  a  legacy  to  Lady  Hamilton. 

Of  Merton  Abbey,  when  it  was  in  its  glory, 
little  is  known.  No  engraving  of  it  is  known  to 
exist.  Nor  is  there  even  a  plan  of  the  sixty  acres 
on  which  it  stood,  surrounded  by  a  wall  of  flint, 
stone,  and  Roman  bricks,  w^hich,  for  a  few  yards, 
is  the  only  reminder  left  by  the  ruthless  hand  of 
the  spoiler. 

The  original  Abbey   was   a  wooden   building, 


BYGONE  MERTON.  241 

erected  in  1115,  by  Gilbert  Norman,  near  the 
Parish  Church,  which  he  is  also  said  to  have  built 
at  about  the  same  date.  Here  he  founded  a 
Convent  of  Augustinian  Canons,  an  institution 
which  in  after  years  became  famous  as  a  home  of 
learning  and  piety.  It  was  granted  by  the 
founder  to  Robert  Bayle,  a  sub-prior  of  Austin 
Canons;  Two  years  later  the  establishment  was 
moved  to  a  second  house,  whither  the  prior  and 
his  fifteen  brethren  went  in  procession  singing 
the  hymn,  "  Salve  dies." 

In  1121,  Henry  I.  granted  the  entire  manor 
of  Merton  to  the  canons  in  return  for  £100  in 
silver,  and  six  marks  of  gold.  Then  the  first 
stone  priory  was  built,  the  foundation  stone  being 
laid  with  great  solemnity  by  Gilbert  Norman, 
who  died  the  same  year. 

In  1236,  was  held  here  the  great  council  of  the 

nation,  which  passed  the  well-known  Statutes  of 

Merton,  remarkable  for  their  Protestant  character. 

The   king   and    the    pope    endeavoured    to   put 

England  under  canon  law,  which  would  have  been 

the  death  blow  to  all  her  greatness.      But  they 

were   steadily   confronted   by   the    Barons,    who 

made  the  famous  declaration,  '*  We  are  unwilling 

that  the  laws   of  England  should  be  changed," 

16 


242  BYGONE  SURREY. 

re-echoed  later  on  in  the  thirty-nine  articles,  "  The 
Pope  of  Rome  hath  no  jurisdiction  in  this  realm 
of  England." 

This  was  one  of  the  mitred  abbeys  which  sent  a 
representative  to  parliament,  and  was  the  nurse 
of  several  great  men,  including  Thomas  ^  Beckett 
and  Walter  de  Merton,  who  was  at  the  same  time 
Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  and  Bishop  of 
Rochester.  His  tomb  may  be  seen  in  the 
Cathedral.  He  died  in  October  1277.  In  the 
Bodleian  Library,  at  Oxford,  there  are  the 
Chronicles  of  Merton  Abbey,  which  contain  the 
ordinances  of  William  de  Wykeham  for  its 
government.  The  canons  were  forbidden  to  hunt, 
or  to  keep  dogs  for  that  purpose,  on  penalty  of 
being  confined  to  a  diet  of  bread  and  ale  during 
six  holidays.  It  appears,  however,  that  the 
canons  were  not  as  obedient  as  they  ought  to  have 
been,  and  were  censured  by  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester  at  one  of  his  visitations  for  not 
attending  Mass,  and  for  carrying  bows  and  arrows. 

Nearly  all  the  Plantagenet  and  Lancastrian 
Kings  granted  charters  to  the  abbey,  and  it 
became  very  rich,  with  a  rent  roll  of  £1000  a  year, 
besides  advowsons  of  many  churches  in  Surrey 
and  other  counties. 


BYGONE  ME  ETON.  243 

Henry  VIII.,  as  was  his  wont,  quietly  sup- 
pressed the  abbey,  and  coolly  appropriated  its 
revenues.  Its  buildings  became  a  garrison,  and 
orders  were  given  "  to  make  Farnham  Castle 
indefensible,  and  secure  Merton  Abbey  and  other 
places  of  strength  in  the  same  county."  Queen 
Elizabeth  leased  the  buildings  with  the  Merton 
lands  to  Sir  Gregory  Lovell,  her  treasurer,  for 
twenty-one  years,  at  an  annual  rent  of  £26  13s. 
4d.,  and  paid  him  in  1571  a  visit  of  three  days. 
He  built  a  mansion  after  the  style  of  the  period, 
which  still  exists,  working  up  into  it  the  materials 
of  the  dismantled  abbey.  And  now  the  remorse- 
less railway  between  Wimbledon  and  Tooting 
runs  through  the  property — leaving  the  house 
on  one  side,  and  the  interesting  old  Norman 
archway  by  which  it  was  approached,  on  the 
other. 

In  1724  and  1752  two  calico  printing  works 
were  established  within  the  walls,  and  a  copper 
mill  erected,  which,  in  the  year  1790,  employed 
1000  persons. 

These  manufactories  have  been  in  turn  super- 
seded by  the  silk  printing  works  of  Messrs. 
Littler,  and  the  artistic  fabrics  and  glass  painting 
works   of  Mr.   Morris — "  A    pleasing   contrast," 


244  BYGONE  SURREY. 

one  chronicler  observes,  '*  to  the  monastic  indolence 
which  reigned  here  in  the  gloomy  ages  of 
superstition." 

The  Parish  Church,  dedicated  to  the  Virgin 
Mary,  is  probably  one  of  the  most  curious  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  London — the  nave  and  chancel 
are  of  almost  equal  length — and  the  latter  has 
an  almost  unique  decorated  roof  of  chestnut 
wood. 

The  north  door  opens  under  a  Norman  arch 
with  zigzag  mouldings,  and  the  hammered  iron 
work  of  the  original  oaken  door  is  of  a  remarkably 
interesting  character.  A  church  is  recorded  to 
have  existed  here  in  the  Doomsday  Book,  and 
with  the  exception  of  the  side  aisles,  which  are 
later  additions  done  in  very  good  taste,  the 
present  structure  is  probably  that  built  by 
Gilbert  Norman,  the  founder  of  the  abbey. 

There  belongs  to  the  church  a  large  picture  of 
the  descent  from  the  Cross.  It  is  much  damaged, 
but  appears  to  have  been  a  good  painting,  and 
was  either  the  work  of  Luca  Jordan o  or  a  copy 
from  him. 

On  the  walls  of  the  nave  still  hang  several 
hatchments  belonging  to  great  families  once 
connected  with  the  parish.     Among  them  is  that 


BYGONE  MERTON.  245 

of  Lord  Nelson,  whose  church  seat  is  still  shown 
in  the  vestry. 

Opposite  the  church  is  an  Elizabethan  mansion, 
known  as  church  house.  It  stands  in  a  garden  of 
at  least  two  acres,  and  is  surrounded  by  walls 
quite  as  massive  as  those  of  the  old  abbey.  It 
has  had  a  chequered  history.  At  the  end  of  last 
century  it  was  for  a  time  the  residence  of  Richard 
Brinsley  Sheridan,  and  was  doubtless  often  visited 
by  the  great  Dr.  Johnson.  Soon  afterwards  it 
was  used  as  a  convalescent  hospital  in  connection 
with  Bermondsey  workhouse ;  but  the  black 
plague  cleared  off  most  of  the  inmates,  and  the 
rest  fled  in  terror,  so  that  it  was  left  desolate  for  a 
time.  The  iron  entrance  gate  opposite  the 
Church  is  very  fine,  and  at  the  other  side  of  the 
house  there  was  a  similar  entrance,  now  blocked 
up,  leading  by  a  noble  avenue  of  elms  to  the 
London  and  Kingston  Road. 


] 


3nbei:» 


Abbot,  Archbishop,  150,  160,  210 
Abbot's  Hospital,  Guildford,  209- 

211 
Abbot,  Sir  Maurice,  214 
Abinger,  92 
Addlestone,  93 
Albury,  7-8,  90,  217 
Aldershot,  94 
Alford,  84 

Alley ne,  Edward,  134 
Alphege,  Archbishop,  117 
Alton,  90 

Andre wes,  Bishop,  124,  134,  192 
Angel  Hotel,  Guildford,  215 
Austiebury  Camp,  9,  83 
Antoninus  Pius,  91 
Arundel,  Archbishop,  144,  147 
Arundel,  Earl,  193 
Atkins-Bowyer,  Rev.  T.  W.,  173 
Atkins,  Sir  Richard,  173-174 
Atkins  Monument,  Clapham,  173 
Awdry,  Mary,  115, 

Bacon,  Sir  Nicholas,  197 

Bailby,  Harry,  129 

Baldwin,  Archbishop,  10,  11,12, 

13,  14,  15,  34 
Balham,  84 

Bankside,  116,  122-123,  134,  137 
Banstead  Downs,  201 
Barclay,  Alexander,  154 
Barry,  Sir  Charles,  184 
Battersea,  170-185 
Battersea  Park,  172 
Battersea  Rise,  175 
Bayle,  Robert,  241 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  131 
Beaufort,  Cardinal,  124 
Beaufort,  Joan,  125 
Beckett,  Thomas  k,  126  127,  242 
Beddington,  232-233 
Benson,  Archbishop,  33 
Berkeley,  Earl  of,  203 
Berraondsey,  79,  135 
Bermondsey  Abbey,  120-121 


Bermondsey  Square,  121 
Blechingley,  217-220,  226,  228 
Blindley  Heath,  95 
Boleyn,  Ann,  21,  35, 
Bolingbroke,  V^iscount,  172 
Bolingbroke  House,  171 
Boniface,    Archbishop,     15,     29, 

35 
Bonner,  Bishop,  136 
Bookham,  93,  189 
Bourchier,  Archbishop,  144 
Bowdler,  John,  180 
Bowyer,  Richard,  173 
Box  Hill,  93 

Bridge  House,  Battersea,  172 
Broomhall  Copse,  84 
Brown  Robert,  136 
Browne,  Sir  Anthony,  168 
Buckingham,  Duke  of,  198 
Bunyan,  John,  136 
Burford  Bridge,  83,  93 
Burleigh,  Lord,  157 
Bury  Street,  92 

Canterbury,  87-88,  89 

Canute,  117-118,  119,  170 

Carew,  Sir  Francis,  150,  232-233 

Carew,  Sir  Nicholas,  150 

Carshalton,  84,  91,  96 

Cater  ham,  95 

Caterham  Valley,  237 

Catherine  of  France,  122 

Cavendish,  Henry,  181 

Co  warden,  Sir  Thomas,  194 

"Cedars,"  The,  Clapham,  176 

Chaldon,  96 

Chanctonbury,  2 

Charlewood,  85 

Charles  I.,  234 

Charles  II.,  203,  234 

"  Chase,"  The,  Clapham,  184 

Chaucer,  129 

Cheam,  227 

Chertsey  Abbey,  93 

Choyne,  Francis,  234 


248 


INDEX. 


Chichele,  Archbishop,  10,  16,  17, 

18,  -25.  35,  142,  144 
Chiddingfold,  204,  229 
Childe,  Alwyn,  119 
Cholmeley,  family  of,  219 
Cissbury  Hill,  2 
Clapham,  170-185 
Clapham  Academy,  177 
Clapham  Church  (Holy  Trinity), 

173 
Clapham     Church    (St.    John's), 

171,  172,  173,  174 
Clapham  Church  (St.  Paul's),  173 
Clapham  Hall,  182 
Clare,  Gilbert  de,  218 
Clarges,  Sir  Thomas,  104 
Cleveland,  Duchess  of,  203 
Cleves,  Anne  of,  219 
Cobham,  93 

Colechurch,  Peter  of,  126 
Coverdale,  Miles,  143 
Courtenay,  Archbishop,  142 
Coway  Stakes,  79,  114 
Cradles  Farm,  85 
Crane,  Sir  Francis,  233 
Cranley,  224 
Cranmer,    Archbishop,    21,    144, 

146,  149,  192,  193 
Crooksbury,  8,  9 
Crowhurst,  112 
Crowley,  Richard,  154 
Croydon,  95,  96,  234,  236,  237,  238 
Croydon,  Manor  of,  140,  141 
Croydon,  Mediasval,  140-162 
Croydon  Church,  141,  143,  144 
Croydon  Fair,  153 
Croydon  Inns,  152 
Croydon  Palace,  143-149 
Croydon  "  Rows,"  153 
Crucifix  Lane,  121 
Cuddington,  227 
Cuddington,  Sir  Richard  de,  186 

Darrell,  Christopher,  223 
Dartford,  79,  80 
Davy,  Ellis,  161,  162 
Dealtry,  Dr.  William,  183 
Deane,  Archbishop,  21 
Devil's  Dyke,  2 
Devil's  Highway,  85-87 
Devil's  Jumps,  The,  98,  163 
Devil's  Punchbowl,  98 
Dickens,  Charles,  128,  136 
Dimsdale,  Sir  Harry,  1 12 


Dorking,  83,  90,  93,  112,  217 

Douglas,  Dr.,  104 

Duke's  Hill,  Bagshot,  85 

Dunsfold,  224 

Dunstan,  Sir  JeflFrey,  112 

Duppas  Hill,  158 

Durdans,  Epsom,  203 

Edward  the  Confessor,  118,  119 

Edward  I.,  218 

Edward  VI.,  194 

Effingham,  93 

Egerton,  Rev.  J.  C,  45 

Eliot,  George,  45 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  145,  147,   150, 

194,  195,  196,  197,  233 
Elms  House,  183,  184 
Eltham  Palace,  28 
Epsom,  158 
Epsom  Downs,  84 
Erie,  Sir  William,  92 
Ermine  Street,  96 
Esher,  231 

Essex,  Earl  of,  196,  197 
Evelyn,  George,  230 
Ewell,  84 

Farley  Heath,  9,  84,  91,  92,  204 

Farmer,  Captain,  203 

Farnham  Castle,  4,  155,  199,  243 

Fisher,  Bishop,  21,  29 

Fitz-Martin,  Henry,  129 

Fletcher,  Laurence,  133 

Fox,  Bishop,  124 

Frensham,  8,  9,  98,  105,  107,  108, 

109 
Friday  Street,  85 
Frimley,  7 

Furneaux,  Dr.  P.,  182 
Furzen  Lane,  85 

Garrett,  Mayor  of,  110,  111,  112 
Gatton,  88-89,  94,  96,  228 
Gauden,  Sir  Dennis,  176 
Gauden    House,    Clapham,    175, 

176 
Gaynsford,  Family  of,  219 
Gennet's  Bridge,  85 
Gilford,  William,  122 
Godalming,  7,  8,  9,  103,  110,  221, 

232 
(Jodshill,  99 
Godstone,  95,  99,  217,  228,  230 


INDEX. 


249 


Godstow,  99 

Godwin,  Earl,  119,  217-218 

Gomshall,  217 

Gower,  The  Poet,  124 

Grafton,  Duke  of,  203 

Grafton  Square  Chapel,  Clapham, 

182 
Grandison,  Viscount,  171 
Grange  Road,  120 
Grant,  Charles,  180 
Granville,  Bishop,  U 
Greene,  Robert,  132,  154 

Greyshot,  92 

Grindal,    Archbishop,    143,    146, 

157 
Grover,  J.  W.,  173  , 
Guildford,  7,  8,  9,/99,  104,   105, 

160,   204-226,  ^21,  226,  231, 

232 
Guildford  Castle,  4,  199,  206-209 
Guildford  Churches,  212,  214,  215 
Guildford  Friary,  213 
Guildford  Grammar  School,  211, 

212 

Racket,  Bishop,  192 

Hadrian,  Emperor,  91 

Haling  Manor,  151 

Hambledon,  92 

Hamilton,  Lady,  240 

Hamilton,  Sir  W.,  240 

Hampton  Lodge,  90 

Hardacanute,  118 

Hardy,  Matthew,  38 

Harrison,  J.  P.,  84 

Harvard,  John,  136 

Hascombe,  9,  92-93 

Haslemere,  224 

Hatton,  Sir  Christopher,  147,  157 

Henry  v.,  130 

Henry  VIIL,  186,  194,  201,  202, 

218 
Hewer,  William,  176 
Highdown  Ball,  110 
Hindhead,  92,  163 
Hog's  Back,  7,  8,  9,  98,  162 
Hohnesdale,  109 
Holmwood,  83,  109 
Holwood  Hill,  79,  94 
Hood,  Tom,  176 
Hook  Street,  85 
Horley,  189 
Home,  224 


Home,  Bishop,  134 

Horslydown,  135 

Howard,  Lord,  of  Effingham,  41, 

151 
Howley,  Archbishop,  32,  40 
Hungerford,  80,  81,  82 
Hunter,  John,  103 
HydonBall,  110 

Icknield  Way,  86 
Imperial  W^ay,  85 
Inglis,  Sir  R.  H.,  182 

James  I.,  16^,  198,  234 

James  I.  of  Scotland,  125 

Jennings,  L. ,  45 

Johnson,  Dr..  245 

Jones,  Sir  William,  181,  182 

Jonson,  Ben,  131 

Josceline,  Archbishop,  13 

Julius  Caisar,  114 

Juxon,  Archbishop,  10,  26,  28,  32 

36,  38,  146 
Juxon's  Hall,  24 

Keston,  100 
King's  Fold,  85 
Kingston-on-Thames,  101,  113 
Kingston  Fair,  46 

Lambeth,  229,  230 
Lambeth  Palace,  10-42 
Lambeth  Palace  Library,  30 
Langton,  Archbishop,  14,  16 
Laud,  Archbishop,  22,  32,  33,  36, 

38,  146 
Leith  Hill,  2,  3 
Leminge  Lane,  84 
Limpsheld,  96 
Lingtield,  95,  96,  158,  224 
"  Lollard's     Prison,"     Lambeth 

Palace,   15,   16-22,   142 
London,  Ancient  site  of,  78-79 
London,  Origin  of  name,  77-78 
London    Bridge,    115,    116,    117, 

124,  126 
Long  Ditton,  230 
Loseley,  193,  194 
Lowman,  Rev.  M.,  182 
Ludlam,  Mother,   105,  106,   107, 

108 
Lumley,  Lord,  188,  192,  193 
Lye,  Mr.,  182 

17 


250 


INDEX. 


Macaulay,  Lord,  176,  180,  181 
Macaulay,  Zachary,  179,  181 
Macintosh,  Sir  James,  184 
Mandeville,  Sir  G.  de,  164,  165 
Manningham,  Sir  Richard,  104 
Marlowe,  Christopher,  132 
Marshalsea,  The,  136 
Massinger  Phillip,  132,  133 
Mary  of  Scotland,  122 
Mermaid  Club,  131 
Merstham,  228,  234,  235,  237,  238 
Merton,  Walter  de,  242 
Merton,  Statutes  of,  241,  242 
Merton  Abbey,  239,  243 
Merton  Church,  244,  245 
Merton,  Church  House,  245 
Milton  Street,  92 
Mitcham,  239 
Moncton  Hook,  85 
Moor  Park,  105 
Morden,  84 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  21,  29 
More,  Sir  William,  193,  194,  215 
Mortlake.  233 

Morton,  Cardinal,  10,  23,  36,  39 
Morton's  Tower,  Lambeth  Palace, 

24 
Mowbray,  Dr.,  104 

Nag's  Head  Conspiracy,  36-37 
Nelson,  Lord,  2S9,  245 
Netley  Heath,  90 
Newdigate,  189,  223 
Newlands,  Abraham,  136 
Nonsuch  Palace,  186-203,  227 
Norbury,  150 
Norman,  Gilbert,  241,  244 
Norwood,  141,  155,  158 
Nower,  The,  93 
Nunciata,  Toto  dell,  187 
Nutfield,  226 
Nycolson,  James,  127 

Oakwood  Hill,  85 
Oatlands,  199 
Ockley,  83,  85 
Odin,  98 
Okewood,  226 
Oursiau,  Nicholas,  191 
Oxted,  217 

Palmerston,  Lord,  220 
Paris  Gardens,  135 


Parish,  Rev.  W.  D.,  43 

Park  Hatch,  92 

Parker,  Archbishop,  36,  37,  143, 

145,  195 
Peckham,  Archbishop,  29 
Pegge,  Dr.,  43 
Penselwood,  95 
Peperharrow,  7 
Perrot,  Alan,  120 
Pickle  Herring  Stairs,  120 
Pilgrim's  Way,  4,  87-94 
Pitt,  William,  178,  179 
Plaistow,  Sussex,  85 
Pole,  Cardinal,  193 
Pollock,  Sir  George,  184 
Pont  de  I'Arche,  William,  123, 124 
Pope,  Sir  Thomas,  121 
Popham,  Sir  John,  133 
Prophete,  J.  T.,  228 
Puttenham,  8,  9 
Puttenham  Common,  204 
Puttenham  Priory,  90 

Raleigh,  Sir  W^alter,  131,  196,  232 
Reigate,  189,  217,  226,  228 
Reynolds,  Archbishop,  25 
Richmond,  199 
Robert  of  Paris,  135 
Roches,  Peter  des,  124,  127 
Rome  Farm,  85 
Rowhook,  83,  84,  85 
Rudgwick,  84 

Sacheverell,  Dr.,  136 

St.  Andr6,  Mr.  104 

St.  Catherine's  Hill,  90,  99 

St.  George's  Hill,  93,  94 

St.  John,  Walter,  171 

St.  x\f agnus'  Church,  1 16 

St.  Martha's  Hill,  90,  99,  112 

St.   Mary  Overie,  115,  119,   121, 

124,  125 
St.  Olave's  Church,  116 
St.  Saviour's  Church,  115 
St.  Saviour's  Dock,  121 
St.  Saviour's  School,  136 
St.  S within,  116 
Sancroft,  Archbishop,  30,  38 
Sandal  Lane,  92 
Sandall,  Bishop,  134 
Sanderstead,  96 
Scarbrook,  152 
Scory,  Bishop,  143 
Seale,  8 


INDEX. 


251 


Seeker,  Archbishop,  40 
Selden,  John,  30 
Selhurst,  155 

Shakespeare,  Edmund,  133 
Shakespeare,  William,    128,   129, 

131    132   133 
Sharp,  Granville,  176,  180, 
Share  90,  221 
Sheridan,  R.  B.,  245 
Shore,  Sir  John,  181 
Simbrock,  Mr.,  104 
Simeon,  Charles,  180,  181 
Slyfield,  224 
Smith,  Lander,  224 
Smitham  Bottom,  237 
Southwark,  114-138 
Southwark  Fair,  137 
Southwark,  Inns  of,  128,  129 
Stafford,  Archbishop,  142,  144 
Staines,  85 
Stane  Street,  83-85 
Stephen,  James,  180 
Stoke,  D'Abernon,  93 
Streatham,  95,  158 
Sudbury,  Archbishop,  35 
Sutton  Place,  215  216 

"Tabarde,"     The,      Southwark, 

128-129 
Tait,  Archbishop,  33-41 
Taith,  98 

Teignmouth,  Lord,  180 
Tenison,  Archbishop,  31 
Thames  Ditton,  189 
Thor,  98 

Thornborough,  Rev.  (J.,  224 
Thornton,  Henry,  177,   178,  179, 

182,  184 
Thornton,  Henry  Sykes,  184 
Thornton,  John,  177  178 
Thornton,  Robert,  177 
Thornton,  Samuel,  178 
Thunderhill,  98 
Thundersfield,  96,  98 
Thunor,  98 
Thursley,  98 
Tilfurd,  7 
Tillingbourne,  7 
Titsey,  94 

Toft,  Mary,  103,  104,  105 
Tonbridcje,  Richard  de,  218 
Tooley  Street,  121 
Tooting,  84,  98,  HI 
Trevelyan,  Sir  Charles,  183 


Trinity  College,  Oxford,  122 
Turret  Grove,  Clapham,  174 
Tyting  Valley,  90 

Urvvick,  Rev.  T.,  182 

Vauxhall,  229 

Venn,  Rev.  John,  180,  183 

Wake,  Archbishop,  147 

Walter,   Archbishop,   10,   13,   14, 

15,  25,  34,  35 
Walton  Downs,  84 
Walton  Heath,  93 
Walton-on  Thames,  101,  113,  114 
Wallington,  91,  96 
Walworth,  Sir  William,  150 
Wanborough,  8,  9,  98,  163-169 
Wanborough  Church,  165-167 
Wandle,  River,  226,  235,  239.  240 
Wandsworth,  98,  111,  234,  237 
Warlingham,  100 
Waterings,  Sir  Thomas,  136 
Watling  Street,  77-83 
Waverley  Abbey,  90,  105,  107 
Westcot  Street,  92 
Westhunible,  93 
Westminster  Hall,  2S 
Weston,  Sir  Richard,  215 
Weston  Street,  90 
West  Wickham,  100 
Wey,  River,  6,  226,  232 
Wey  bridge,  226,  232 
"White  Harte,"  The,  Southwark, 

128 
Whitehall,  Cheam,  192 
Whitehorse,  Walter,  151 
Whitehorse  Manor,  151 
Whitgift,   Archbishop,    143,    156, 

161 
Whitgift  Hospital,  143,  156-161 
Whitgift's  School,  160,  161 
Whitmoor  Common,  9 
Wickham,  Bishop,  134 
Wickliffe,  John,  35 
Wilberforce,  Samuel,  183 
Wilberforce,    William,   177,   179, 

181,  J84 
WilkiiisDn,  Dr.,  182 
Winchelsea,  Archbishop,  28 
Winchester,  89 
Winchester  House,  125,  126 
Winsor,  Justin,  136 
Witley  Park,  92 
Woden  Hill,  Bagshot,  98 


252 


INDEX. 


Wood  Hill,  92 

Woodcot,  84,  152 

Woodmanstern,  96 

Woodside,  155 

Woodville,  Queen  Elizabeth,  122 

Worcester  Park,  201,  202 

Worplesdon,  224 


Wotton,  92.  230 

Wren,  Sir  Christopher,  136,  175, 

176 
Wyattville,  Jeffrey,  203 
Wykeham,  William  de,  242 

York  House,  Battersea,  172 


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I 


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"The  work  teems  with  interesting  details  of  the  lives  and  manners  of 
our  Kentish  forefathers,  and  should  be  found  in  every  library  of  every 
Kentish  man." — Tunbridge  Wells  Advertiser. 

Bygone  Lancashire. 

Edited  by  ERNEST  AXON. 

Contents  :— Historic  Lancashire,  by  Ernest  Axon — The  Feligious  Life 
of  Lancashire  during  the  Commonwealth,  by  W.  A.  Shaw,  M.A. — Kersal 
Moor,  by  Janet  Armytage— A  Lancaster  Worthy  (Thomas  Covell),  by 
William  Hewitson — Some  Early  Manchester  Grammar  School  Boys,  by 
Ernest  Axon — The  Sworn  Men  of  Amounderness,  Vjy  Lieut-Col.  Henry 
Fishwick,  f.s.a. — Lancashire  Sundials,  by  William  E.  A.  Axon,  m.r.s.l. 
— The  Plague  in  Liverpool,  by  J.  Cooper  Morley — The  Old  Dated  Bell  at 
Claughton,  by  Robert  Langton,  F.R.  H.s. — The  Children  of  Tim  Bolibin, 
by  Ernest  Axon — The  "Black  Art"  at  Bolton — An  Infant  Prodigy  in 
1679,  by  Arthur  W.  Croxton — Wife  Desertion  in  the  Olden  Times — The 
Colquitt  Family  of  Liverpool — Some  Old  Lancashire  Punishments — Bury 
Simnels — Eccles  Wakes,  by  H.  Cottam — Furness  Abbey — Colonel 
Rosworm  and  the  Siege  of  Manchester,  by  George  C.  Yates,  f.s.a. — 
Poems  of  Lancashire  Places,  by  William  E.  A.  Axon,  m.r.s.l.  —  Father 
Arrowsmith's  Hand,  by  Rush  worth  Armytage — Index. — Illustrated. 

"  In  the  collection  of  papers  forming  this  highly  interesting  volume, 
many  antiquarian  and  historical  matters  connected  with  the  County 
Palatine  are  dealt  with,  and  at  least  a  dozen  authors  have  contributed 
essays  rich  in  curious  facts.  .  .  .  All  the  articles  are  good,  and  should 
make  this  volume  a  favourite  among  the  historical  students  of  the  County 
Palatine. " — Liverpool  Mercury. 

"'Bygone  Lancashire'  is  a  welcome  addition  to  the  literature  of  the 
county,  and  we  may  echo  the  hope  expressed  by  the  editor  that  its 
appearance  '  may  encourage  the  local  patriotism  which  is  such  a  striking 
characteristic  of  the  Lancashire  Lad.'  It  may  be  added  that  the  work, 
which  contains  a  few  illustrations,  is  well  got  up,  and  does  credit  to  the 
publishers. " — Manchester  Courier. 

Bygone  Leicestershire. 

Edited  by  WILLIAM  ANDREWS,  f.r.h.s. 

CoNTKNTS  : — Historic  Leicestershire,  by  Thomas  Frost — John  Wiclif 
and  Lutterworth,  by  John  T.  Page — The  Last  Days  of  a  Dynasty  :  An 
Introduction  to  Redmore  Fight — The  Battle  of  Bosworth,  by  Edward 
Laniplough — Scenes  at  Bosworth  :  The  Blue  Boar  at  Leicester — Bradgate 
and  Lady  Jane  Grey,  by  John  T.  Page — Leicester  Castle,  by  I.  W. 
Dickinson,  b.a.— Death  of  Cardinal  Wolsey  at  Leicester  Abbey,  by  I.  W. 


Dickinson,  B.A. — Belvoir  Castle — Robert,  Earl  of  Leicester  :  A  Chapter  of 
Mediaeval  History — Local  Proverbs  and  Folk  Phrases,  by  T.  Broadbent 
Trowsdale — Festival  Customs  in  Leicestershire,  by  Henrietta  Ellis — 
Witchcraft  in  Leicestershire,  by  J.  Potter  Briscoe,  F.R.H.S. — William 
Lilly,  The  Astrologer,  by  W.  H.  Thompson — Gleanings  from  Early 
Leicestershire  Wills,  by  the  Rev.  W.  G.  D.  Fletcher,  M.A.,  F.s.A.— 
Punishments  of  the  Past — Laurence  Ferrers,  the  Murderer-Earl,  by  T. 
Broadbent  Trowsdale — The  Last  Gibbet,  by  Thomas  Frost — The  Ancient 
Water-Mills  at  Loughborough,  by  the  Rev.  W.  G.  D.  Fletcher,  m.a., 
F.s.A. — Ashhy-de-la-Zouch  Castle  and  its  Associations  ;  Ashby-de-la-Zouch 
and  the  French  Prisoners,  by  Canon  Denton,  m.a. — Miss  Mary  Linwood : 
An  Artist  with  the  Needle,  by  William  Andrews,  f.r.h.s. — Street  Cries, 
by  F.  T.  Mott,  f.r.g.s.— Minstrelsy  in  Leicester,  by  the  Rev.  Geo.  S. 
Tyack,  b.a. — Index. 

"The  subjects  are  dealt  with  in  a  popular  manner,  andihe  utmost 
accuracy  has  been  observed  in  setting  forth  the  more  interesting  phases  of 
local  history,  biography,  and  folk-lore  of  Leicestershire,  The  book  is 
interspersed  with  some  capital  illustrations;  the  whole  is  nicely  printed, 
and  forms  an  acceptable  gift  to  any  one  who  takes  an  interest  in  the  doings  , 
of  bygone  days,  or  in  the  history  of  this  especial  county. " — Hull  News. 

Bygone  Lincolnshire. 

Edited  by  WILLIAM  ANDREWS,  f.r.h.s. 

Contents  of  Volume  I.  : — Historic  Lincolnshire,  by  John  Nicholson 
— The  Ancient  Boat  at  Brigg,  by  T.  Tindall  Wildridge— Havelok,  the 
Dane,  by  Mabel  Peacock — The  Crowle  Stone,  by  the  Rev.  Geo.  S.  Tyack, 
B.A. — A  Roman  Arch — A  Curious  Legend,  by  the  Rev.  W.  Henry  Jones 
— Quaint  Land  Tenures  and  Customs  of  the  Manor,  by  T.  Broadbent 
Trowsdale,  f.r.h.s. — Swineshead  :  The  Story  of  King  John's  Death,  by 
Edward  Lamplough — Barton-on-Humber  in  the  Olden  Time,  by  C.  H. 
Crowder — Pirates  in  the  Humber,  by  Edward  Peacock,  f.s.a. — The 
Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  by  Frederick  Ross,  f.r.h.s. — Horncastle  or  Winsby 
Fight,  by  Edward  Lamplough — Somersby  Manor  and  Cross,  by  J.  G.  Hall 
— ^Some  Old  Lincolnshire  Guilds,  by  the  Rev.  J.  Malet  Lambert,  m.a., 
LL.D. — Somerton  Castle  and  its  Royal  Captive,  by  Theo.  Arthur —The 
Champion,  by  William  Andrews,  f.r.h.s. — Haxey  Hood — Bull-Running, 
by  John  H.  Leggott,  f.r.h.s. — Henry  Welby,  the  Grub  Street  Hermit,  by 
Theo.  Arthur — The  Plague  in  Alford,  1630,  by  the  Rev.  Geo.  S.  Tyack, 
B.A. — Kirke  White  in  Lincolnshire,  by  Alfred  Lishman — Index. 

Contents  of  Volume  II. — Lincoln  Cathedral,  by  T.  Tindall  Wildridge 
— Lincoln  Castle,  by  E.  Mansell  Sympson,  m.d. — Tattershall,  its  Lords, 
its  Castle,  and  its  Church,  by  E.  Mansell  Sympson,  m.d. — Bolingbroke 
Castle,  by  Tom  Robinson,  m.d. — Ancient  Stained  Glass  at  Barton-on- 
Humber,  and  the  great  Earl  Beaumont,  by  T.  Tindall  Wildridge — On  the 
Population  of  Lincolnshire,  by  Tom  Robinson,  m.d. — Superstitious  Beliefs 
and  Customs  of  Lincolnshire,  by  the  Rev.  Wm.  Proctor  Swaby,  D.D. — 
The  Legend  of  Byard's  Leap,  by  the  Rev.  J.  Conway  Walter — Thornton 
AbV:)ey,  by  Frederick  Ross,  f.r.h.s. — The  Witches  of  Belvoir,  by  T. 
Broadbent  Trowsdale — The  Battle  of  Lincoln,  by  Edward  Lamplough — 
Lincoln  Fair,  by  Edward  Lamplough — Alford  Fight,  by  the  Rev.  Geo.  S. 
Tyack,  B.A. — Robert  de  Brunne,  by  Frederick  Ross,  f.r.h.s. — Dr.  Dodd, 
the  Forger,  by  John  T.  Page — Sir  Isaac  Newton — Barton-on-Humber 
Ferry,  by  C.  H.  Crowder — An  Eighteenth  Century  Poet,  by  the  Rev,  Alan 


Cheales,  ma. — Lincolnshire  a  Century  Ago — Spalding  Gentlemen's 
Society,  by  Dr.  Perry — The  Great  Brass  Welkyn  of  Boston,  by  William 
Stevenson — The  Great  Hawthorn  Tree  of  Fishtoft — Index. 

"Mr.  William  Andrews  collects  together  a  series  of  papers,  by  various 
competent  hand^,  on  the  history,  antiquities,  and  folk-lore  of  the  great 
eastern  county  which  has  borne  so  conspicuous  a  part  in  the  past  history  of 
England,  and  produced  so  many  men  who  have  illustrated  it.  ...  A 
valuable  contribution  to  local  history." — Thi  Times. 

Bygone  London. 

By  FREDERICK  ROSS,   f.r.ii.s. 

Con  TENTS  :  —The  Walls  and  Gates — Episodes  in  the  Annals  of 
Cheapside — Bishopsgate  Street  Within  and  Without — Aldersgate  Street 
and  St.  Martin's-le-Grand — Old  Broad  Street — Chaucer  and  the  Tabard — 
The  Priory  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Aldgale — Convent  of  the  Sisters 
Minoresses  of  the  Order  of  St.  Clare,  Aldgate — The  Abbey  of  St.  Mary  of 
Graces,  or  East  Minster — The  Barons  Fitzwalter,  of  Baynard's  Castle — Sir 
Nicholas  Brember,  Knight,  Lord  Mayor  of  London — An  Olden  Time 
Bishop  of  London  :  Robert  de  Braybrooke — A  brave  Old  London  Bishop 
— Fulco  Basset — An  Old  London  Diarist — Index. 

"  Mr.  Ross  deals  with  the  chief  episodes  in  the  history  of  London 
architecture,  and  with  existing  London  antiquities,  in  a  garrulous,  genial 
spirit,  which  renders  his  book  generally  attractive." — The  Times. 

"  Beyond  all  doul)t  a  more  interesting  and  withal  informing  volume  than 
*  Bygone  London '  it  has  not  been  our  good  fortune  to  come  across  for 
many  a  long  day." — The  City  Press. 

Bygone  Northamptonshire. 

Edited    by    WILLIAM    ANDREWS,    f.r.ii.s. 

Contents  : — Historic  Northamptonshire,  by  Thomas  Frost — The  Eleanor 
Crosses,  by  the  Rev.  Geo.  S.  Tyack,  B.A. — Fotheringhay  :  Past  and 
Present,  by  Mrs.  Dempsey — The  Battle  of  Naseby,  by  Edward  Lamplough 
— The  Cottage  Countess — The  Charnel  House  at  Rothwell,  l)y  Edward 
Chamberlain — The  (Gunpowder  Plot,  by  John  T.  Page — Earls  Barton 
Church,  by  T.  Tindall  Wildridge — Olcl  Fairs,  by  William  Sharman — 
Witches  and  Witchcraft,  by  Eugene  Teesdale — The  City  of  Peterborough, 
by  Frederick  Ross,  F.  R.H.s. — The  English  Founders  of  the  Washington 
Family  of  America,  by  Thomas  Frost — Ann  Bradstreet,  The  Earliest 
American  Poetess — Liber  Custumarum,  Villte  Norlhamptoniae,  by  Christo- 
pher A.  Markham,  f.s.a. — Thomas  Britton,  the  Musical  Small  Coal 
Man,  by  E.  E.  Cohen — Old  Scarlett,  The  Peterborough  Sexton — Accounts 
of  Towcester  Con>tables,  by  John  Nicholson — Miserere  Shoemaker  of 
Wellingborough,  by  T.  Tindall  Wildridge — Sir  Thomas  Tresham  and  his 
Buildings,  by  John  T.  Page — Northampton  Folk-Lore,  by  John  Nicholson 
— Northamptonshire  Proverbs— An  Ancient  Hospital,  by  the  Rev.  I. 
Wodhams,  M.A. — A  carefully  prepared  Index. — Numerous  ll his  (rations. 

"  The  volume  is  very  interesting,  and  for  those  who  dwell  in  the  county, 
or  whose  tastes  lead  them  to  explore  its  history,  it  will  have  especial 
attraction. " — Publishers'  Circular. 

"  A  welcome  contribution  to  the  literature  of  the  county." — Northampton 
Herald. 


•'A  welcome  addition  to  the  shelves  of  anyone  interested  in  tlie 
antiquities  of  Northamptonshire,  while  even  those  who  are  not,  will  be  able 
to  pleasantly  while  away  many  odd  half-hours  by  perusing  its  pages." — 
Kettering  Leader. 

Bygone  Nottinghamshire. 

By  WILLIAM  STEVENSON. 

CONTKNTS  :— The  Wapentakes— The  Origin  of  the  County— The  Origin 
of  the  Town — The  Earliest  Recorded  Visitors  to  the  County— The 
Suppression  of  the  Knights  Templars — Old  Sanctuary  Days— Notable 
Instances  of  Sanctuary — A  Note  on  the  Beverley  Sanctuary — The  King's 
Gallows  of  the  County — The  Reign  of  Terror  in  Notts — Public  Executions 
— Old  Family  feuds — Visitations  of  the  Plague — Visitations  in  the  Town — 
Visitations  in  the  County — Nottingham  Goose  Fair — The  Great  Priory  Fair 
at  Lenton — The  Pilgrimage  of  Grace — The  Pilgrim  Fathers ;  or.  The 
Founders  of  New  England — The  Descendents  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers — 
Archiepiscopal  Palaces — The  Ancient  Inns  and  Taverns  of  Nottingham — 
Index. 

"  Mr.  Wm.  Stevenson,  of  several  of  whose  previous  works  Nottingham 
and  the  shire  have  formed  the  basis,  adds  to  the  list  an  exceedingly 
interesting  and  useful  book  on  the  county,  under  the  title  of  '  Bygone 
Nottinghamshire,'  illustrated  by  a  large  numl>er  of  engravings  from 
photographs,  old  prints,  and  other  sources.  The  writer's  aim  has  been  to 
incorporate  much  information  beyond  the  reach  of  ordinary  students  on  the 
past  history  of  the  county,  and  thereby  to  prove  the  shire  is,  as  he  believes, 
rich  beyond  comparison  in  ancient  lore.  ...  A  most  pleasant  addition 
to  local  history." — Nottingham  Daily  Guardian. 

"  We  welcome  Mr.  Stevenson's  book  as  a  useful  addition  to  the 
literature  of  the  county. " — Newark  Advertiser. 

Bygone  Scotland. 

By    DAVID    MAXWELL,    C.E. 

Contents  : — The  Roman  Conquest  of  Britain — Britain  as  a  Roman 
Province — The  Anglo-Saxons  in  Britain — The  Rise  of  the  Scottish  Nation 
— The  Danish  Invasions  of  Britain — The  last  Two  Saxon  Kings  of  England 
— How  Scotland  became  a  Free  Nation — Scotland  in  the  Two  Hundred 
Years  after  Bannockburn — The  Older  Scottish  Literature — The  Reforma- 
tion in  England  and  Scotland — The  Rival  Queens,  Mary  and  Elizal)eth — 
Old  Edinburgh — Offences  and  their  Punishment  in  the  Sixteenth  Century 
— Old  Aberdeen — Witchcraft  in  Scotland — Holy-Wells  in  Scotland — 
Scottish  Marriage  Customs— Scotland  under  Charles  the  First — Scotland 
under  Cromwell — Scotland  under  Charles  the  Second — Scotland  under 
James  the  .Second — The  Revolution  of  1688 — The  M.-issacre  of  Glencoe — 
The  Union  of  Scotland  and  England — The  Jacobite  Risings  of  17 1 5 — The 
Rel>ellion  of  ^45 — Index. 

*'  The  book  forms  a  splendid  addition  to  the  works  of  the  same  series  all 
printed  at  the  '  Hull  Press,'  and,  like  all  its  predecessors,  is  printed  in  the 
exceptionally  beautiful  style  which  marks  the  productions  of  Mr.  Andrews' 
establishment.  The  volume  is  handsomely  bound,  and  well  illustrated. 
Mr.  Andrews  is  a  bookmaker /ar  excellence." — Printing  IVorld. 


"Scotland  is  decidedly  a  country  'with  a  past,'  and  that  past  Mr. 
Maxwell  has  here  made  real  to  us  in  a  handsome  volume,  which  is  at  once 
entertaining  and  instructive.  All  interested  in  the  history  of  North  Britain 
may  he  confidently  recommended  to  add  Mr.  Maxwell's  work  to  their 
shelves." — Publishers'  Circular. 

"A  worthy  addition  to  a  series  which  has  more  than  once  been 
mentioned  and  commended  in  this  place." — The  Times. 

Bygone  Surrey. 

Edited  by  GEORGE  CLINCH  and  S.  W.  KERSHAW,   m.a.,    f.s.a. 

CoNTKNTS  :  —Historic  Surrey,  by  George  Clinch — A  Glance  at  Primitive 
Surrey,-  by  Frank  Lashain — Lambeth  Palace,  by  Rev.  J.  Cave-Brownt, 
M.A. — The  Dialect  of  Surrey,  by  (iranville  Leveson-Gower — Ancient  Roads 
and  Ways,  by  H.  F.  Napper — Folk-Lore  and  Local  Customs,  by  George 
Clinch — Southwark  in  Olden  Time,  by  Mrs.  Edmund  Boger — Mediaeval 
Croydon,  by  S.  W.  Kershaw,  f.s.a.  — Wanborough,  by  Lady  West — 
B.ittersei  and  Clapham,  by  i'ercy  M.  Thornton  M.P. — Nonsuch,  by  S.  W. 
Kershaw,  F.S.A. — Notes  on  Guildford,  by  Frank  Lasham — A  Forgotten 
Horough,  by  George  Clinch — -Early  Surrey  Industries,  by  George  Clinch — 
Bygone  .Merton,  by  Rev.  E.  A.  Kempson,  M.A. — Index. 

Bygone  Warwickshire. 

Edited    by    WILLIAM    ANDREWS,    f.r.h.s. 

Contents  : — Historic  Warwickshire,  by  Thomas  Frost — The  Wars  of 
Alhelbald  and  Cuthred — Kenilworih,  by  John  T.  Page — Aniaf  of 
Norlhumbria  atTamworth — St.  Wulfstan,  a  Warwickshire  Saint,  by  William 
E.  A.  Axon — The  Coventry  Mysteries,  by  the  Rev.  Geo.  Tyack,  b.a. — 
Lady  Godiva,  by  W.  H.  Thompson — Shakespeare  at  Home,  by  Sam 
Timmins,  F.S.A. — The  Shakespeare  Garden,  by  Leo  Grindon — The 
Hathaway  Cottage  at  Shottery,  by  A.  H.  Wall — Drunken  Bidford,  by 
J.  A.  Langfcrd,  ll.D.  — Hereford  and  Norfolk  at  Coventry,  by  Edward 
Lamplough — Lawrence  Sheriff,  Grocer  of  Rugby,  by  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Payne 
Smith,  M.A. — The  Gild  of  Holy  Cross,  Birmingham,  by  Miss  Toulmin 
Smith — Trading  Gilds  of  the  City  of  Coventry,  by  W.  G.  Fretton,  f.s.a. — 
Wroth-Money  and  Knightlow-PIill,  by  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Payne  Smith,  .m.a, 
— The  Battle  of  Edgehill,  by  Edward  Lamplough — Warwickshire  Folk-Lore, 
by  A.  H.  Wall— I'ooley  Hall,  by  Andreas  Edward  Cokayne — Glimpses  of 
George  Eliot's  Warwickshire  Scenery,  by  J.  Cuming  Walters — Index. 

"  '  Bygone  Warwickshire,'  with  the  illustrations  and  its  clear  type,  is 
likely,  therefor<-,  to  be  much  in  request — precisely  because  it  has  no 
pretensions  to  dry  antiquarianism,  but  is  written  throughout  in  a  light, 
bright,  and  pleasant  fashion." — SalcC s Journal . 

"  This  is  a  new  volume  in  the  excellent  '  Bygone'  series  to  which  I  have 
referred  before  in  these  columns,  and  it  will  be  particularly  welcome  to 
students  of  Shakespeare,  though  no  less  so  to  all  who  are  interested  in 
historical  and  antiquarian  lore.  Like  its  predecessors  in  the  series,  it  is 
admirably  printed  and  well  illustrated." — Dr.  IV.  J.  Kolfe  in  the  New  York 
Critic. 


Bygone  Yorkshire. 

Edited  by  WILLIAM  ANDREWS,  f.k.h.s. 

Contents  : — Lake-Dwellings  of  Yorkshire,  by  T.  Tindall  Wildridge — 
An  Ancient  Monolith,  by  W.  H.  Thompson — Relics  and  Remnants,  by 
John  Nicholson — Yorkshire  Castles  :  Some  of  their  Historic  Associations, 
by  Edward  Lamplough — York  Castle,  by  Sidney  W.  Clarke — Castles  and 
Castle  Builders :  Bolton  Castle  and  the  Scropes — Ramparts,  Walls,  and 
Bars  of  York,  by  W.  Camidge — The  Ivanhoe  Country,  by  the  Rev.  Geo. 
S.  Tyack,  b.a. — Knights  Templars,  by  J.  J.  Sheahan — St.  Mary's  Abbey, 
York,  by  George  Benson — Byland  Abliey  :  Its  Historical  Associations,  by 
Edward  Lamplough — Robin  Hood  in  Yorkshire,  by  Charles  A-  Federer, 
L.c.p. — The  Pilgrimage  of  Grice,  by  W.  H.  Thompson — The  History, 
Traditions,  and  Curious  Customs  of  York  Minster,  by  George  Benson — A 
Story  of  the  Gunpowder  Plot,  by  the  Rev.  Geo.  S.  Tyack,  B.A. — The 
Spinning- Wheel,  by  I.  W.  Dickinson,  b.a. — Ripon  and  its  Minster,  by 
George  Parker — Ripon  Spurs,  by  T.  C.  Heslington — Captain  Cook,  the 
Circumnavigator,  by  W.  H.  Burnett — Farnley  Hall,  by  J.  A.  Clapham — 
Index. 

"An  important  addition  to  the  literary  history  of  the  county." — . 
Yorkshire  Herald. 

"  Matters  of  fact,  romance,  and  legend  are  interwoven  in  the  most 
charming  manner.  The  work  will,  no  doubt,  command  the  warm 
admiration  it  richly  deserves." — Halifax  Guardian. 

"  It  is  replete  from  cover  to  cover  with  readable  and  informing  articles." 
—  l^akefield  Free  Press. 

Elegantly  bound  in  cloth  gilt,  demy  8vo. ,  price  6s. 

Old  Church  Lore. 

By  WILLIAM  ANDREWS,  f.b.h.s. 

Contents  :— The  Right  of  Sanctuary— The  Romance  of  Trial— A  Fight 
between  the  Mayor  of  Hull  and  the  Archbishop  of  York — Chapels  on 
Bridges — Charter  Horns — The  Old  English  Sunday — The  Easter  Sepulchre 
— St.  Paul's  Cross — Cheapside  Cross — The  Biddenden  Maids  Charity — 
Plagues  and  Pestilences — A  King  Curing  an  Abbot  of  Indigestion — The 
Services  and  Customs  of  Royal  Oak  Day — Marrying  in  a  White  Sheet — 
Marrying  under  the  Gallows — Kissing  the  Bride — Hot  Ale  at  Weddings 
— Marrying  Children — The  Passing  Bell — Concerning  Coffins — The  Curfew 
Bell — Curious  Symbols  of  the  Saints — Acrobats  on  Steeples — A  carefully- 
prepared  Index.  — Illustrated, 

"  It  is  chatty  and  instructive  from  cover  to  cover." — The  Antiquary. 

"  It  will  afford  considerable  enjoyment  to  those  readers  who  are 
interested  in  tracing  the  influence  of  the  Church  on  the  habits  and  social 
life  of  the  people  in  past  times." — Morning  Post. 

"  Most  pleasantly  readable." — Yorkshire  Herald. 

"  Mr.  Andrews  sustains  the  u.iabated  interest  of  his  rea<lers." — Literaty 
World. 

"  It  is  full  of  information,  which  will  make  it  a  very  attractive  boo  for 
all  who  have  any  leaning  towards  antiquarianism."— ZoWijw  Quarterly 
Review. 


"The  book  is  eminently  readable,  and  may  be  taken  up  at  any  moment 
with  the  certainty  that  something  suggestive  or  entertaining  will  present 
itself," — Glasgow  Citizen. 

"  Mr.  Andrews'  book  does  not  contain  a  dull  page.  .  .  .  Deserves 
to  meet  with  a  very  warm  welcome."—  Yorkshire  Post. 

Second  Edition.     Bound  in  cloth  gilt,  demy  8vo. ,  6s. 

Curiosities  of  the  Church. 

studies  of  Curious  Customs,  Services,  and  Records, 

By  WILLIAM  ANDREWS,  f.r.h.s. 

Contents  : — Early  Religious  Plays  :  being  the  Story  of  the  English 
Stage  in  its  Church  Cradle  Days — The  Caistor  Gad- Whip  Manorial  Service 
— Strange  Serpent  Stories — Church  Ales — Rush-Bearing— -Fish  in  Lent- 
Concerning  Doles — Church  Scrambling  Charities — Briefs — Bells  and 
Beacons  for  Travellers  by  Night — Hour  Glasses  in  Churches — Chained 
Books  in  Churches — Funeial  Effigies — Torchlight  Burials — Simple 
Memorials  of  the  Early  Dead — The  Romance  of  Parish  Registers — Dog 
Whippers  and  Sluggard  Wakers— Odd  Items  from  Old  Accounts — A 
carefully  compiled  Indtx. —-/llttstraied. 

"An  extremely  interesting  volume." — North  British  Daily  Mail. 

"  Full  of  interest." — ^ he  Globe. 

"We  feel  sure  that  many  will  feel  grateful  to  Mr.  Andrews  for  having 
produced  such  an  interesting  book." — The  Antiquajy. 

"A  volume  of  great  research  and  striking  interest." — Jhe  Bookbuyer 
(New  York). 

"  A  valuable  book." — Literary  World  (Boston,  U.S.A.) 

"Contains,  in  a  popular  and  readable  form,  much  that  is  curious  and 
instructive. " — Manchester  Guardian. 

"  An  admirable  book." — Sheffield  Independent. 

"An  interesting,  handsomely  got  up  volume.  .  .  .  Mr.  Andrews  is 
always  chatty,  and  expert  in  making  a  paper  on  a  dry  subject  exceedingly 
readable." — Newcastle  Courant. 

"Mr.  William  Andrews'  new  book,  'Curiosities  of  the  Church,'  adds 
another  to  the  series  by  which  he  has  done  so  much  to  popularise 
antiquarian  sUidies.  .  .  The  book,  it  should  be  added,  has  some  quaint 
illustrations,. and  its  rich  matter  is  made  available  for  reference  by  a  full 
and  carefully  compiled  index." — Scotsman. 

Fcap.  4to.     Bevelled  boards,  gilt  tops.     Price  4s. 

Famous  Frosts  and  Frost  Fairs  in 
Great  Britain. 

Chronicled  from  the  Earliest  to  the  Present  Time. 

By  WILLIAM  ANDREWS,  f.k.h.s. 

This  work  furnishes  a  carefully  prepared  account  of  all  the  great  Frosts 
occurring  in  this  country  from  A.  1).  134  to  1887.  The  numerous  Frost  P'airs 
on  the  Thames  are  fully  described,  and  illustrated  with  quaint  woodcuts, 
and  several  old  ballads  relating  to  the  subject  are  reproduced.  It  is 
tastefully  printed  and  elegantly  bound. 


"  The  work  is  thoroughly  well  written,  it  is  careful  in  its  facts,  and  may 
l>e  pronounced  exhaustive  on  the  subject.  Illustrations  are  given  of  several 
frost  fairs  on  the  Thames,  and  as  a  trustworthy  record  this  volume  should 
be  in  every  good  library.  The  usefulness  of  the  work  is  much  enhanced 
by  a  good  index." — Public  Opinion. 

"  A  very  interesting  volume." — Northern  Daily  Telegraph. 

"  A  great  deal  of  curious  and  valuable  information  is  contained  in  these 
pages.     ...     A  comely  volume." — Literary  World. 

"The  work  from  first  to  last  is  a  most  attractive  one,  and  the  arts  alike 
of  printer  and  binder  have  been  brought  into  one  to  give  it  a  pleasing 
form." — Wakefield  Free  Pi  ess. 

Cloth,  4s. 

Yorkshire  in  Olden  Times. 

Edited  By  WILLIAM  ANDREWS,  f.r.h.s. 

Contents  : — An  Outline  History  of  Yorkshire,  by  Thomas  Frost — The 
Cow- Devil :  A  legend  of  Craven,  by  William  Brockie — The  First  Anglo- 
Saxon  Poet,  by  John  II.  Leggott,  f.r.h.s. — The  Battle  of  Brunanburgh, 
by  Prederick  Ross,  F.R.H.S. — Old  Customs  of  York,  by  George  Benson^- 
Elizabethan  Gleanings,  by  Aaron  Watson — The  Fight  for  the  Hornsea 
Fishery,  by  T.  Tindall  Wildridge — Folk  Assemblies,  by  John  Nicholson — 
Quaint  Gleanings  from  the  Parish  Register- Chest  of  Kirby  Wharfe,  by  the 
Rev.  Richard  Wilton,  m.a. — The  Wakefield  Mysteries,  by  William  Henry 
Hudson — A  Biographical  Romance,  by  William  Andrews,  F.R.H.S. — Some 
Scraps  and  Shreds  of  Yorkshire  Superstitions,  by  W.  Sydney,  F.R.S.L. — 
The  Salvation  of  Holderness,  by  Frederick  Ross,  F.R.H.S. — Yorkshire 
Fairs  and  Festivals,  by  Thomas  Frost— James  Naylor,  the  Mad  Quaker 
who  claimed  to  be  the  Messiah,  by  William  Andrews,  F.R.H.S. — Duke 
Richard's  Doom  :  A  legend  of  Sandal  Castle,  by  Edward  Lamplough — 
Obsolete  Industries  of  the  East  Riding,  by  John  Nicholson — Bolton  Abbey  : 
Its  history  and  legends,  by  Altred  Chamberlain,  B.A. — To  Bolton  Abbey, 
by  the  Rev.  E.  G.  Charleswonh. 

"  The  work  consists  of  a  series  of  articles  contributed  by  various  authors, 
and  it  thus  has  the  merit  of  bringing  together  much  special  knowledge  from 
a  great  number  of  sources.  It  is  an  entertaining  volume,  full  of  interest  for 
the  general  reader,  as  well  as  for  the  learned  and  curious." — Shields  Daily 
Gazette. 

Elegantly  bound  in  cloth  gilt,  demy  8vo.,  6s.  , 

Legendary  Yorkshire. 

By  FREDERICK  ROSS,  F.B.H.S. 

Contents  : — The  Enchanted  Cave — The  Doomed  City — The  Worm  of 
Nunnington — The  Devil's  Arrows — The  Giant  Road  Maker  of  Mulgrave — 
The  Virgin's  Head  of  Halifax— The  Dead  Arm  of  St.  Oswald  the  King— 
The  Translation  of  St.  Hilda— A  Miracle  of  St.  John— The  Beatified 
Sisters — The  Dragon  of  Wantley — The  Miracles  and  Ghost  of  Walton — 
The  Murdered  Hermit  of  Eskdale— The  Calverley  Ghost — The  Bewitched 
House  of  Wakefield. 

"  It  is  a  work  of  lasting  interest,  and  cannot  fail  to  delight  the  reader." 
— Beverley  Recorder. 


"The  history  and  the  literature  of  our  county  are  now  receiving  marked 
attention,  and  Mr.  Andrews  merits  the  support  of  the  public  for  the 
production  of  this  and  other  interesting  volumes  he  has  issued.  We 
cannot  speak  too  highly  of  this  volume,  the  printing,  the  paper,  and 
the  binding  being  faultless." — D7iffield  Observer. 

Elegantly  bound  in  cloth  gilt,  demy  8vo. ,  6s. 

Yorkshire  Family  Romance. 

By  FREDERICK   ROSS,  f.r.h.s. 

Contents  : — The  Synod  of  Streoneshalh — The  Doomed  Heir  of 
Osmotherley — St.  Eadwine,  the  Royal  Martyr — The  Viceroy  Siward — 
Phases  ill  the  Life  of  a  Political  Martyr — The  Murderer's  Bride — The 
Earldom  of  Wiltes — Black-faced  Clifford — The  Shepherd  Lord — The 
Felons  of  Ilkley — The  Ingilby  Boar's  Mead — The  Eland  Tragedy — The 
Plumpton  Marriage — The  Topcliffe  Lisurrection — Burning  of  Cotlingham 
Castle — The  Alum  Workers — The  Maiden  of  Marblehead — Rise  of  the 
House  of  Phipps — The  Traitor  Governor  of  Hull. 

"  The  grasp  and  thoroughness  of  the  writer  is  evident  in  every  page,  and 
the  book  forms  a  valuable  addition  to  the  literature  of  the  North  Country." 
— Gentlewoman . 

"  Many  will  welcome  this  work." —  Yorkshire  Post. 

Crown  8vo.     Bound  in  cloth  extra.     Price  3/6. 

Biblical  and  Shakespearian  Characters 
Compared. 

studies    of   Life    and    Literature. 
By  the  Rev.  JAMES  BELL. 

Between  the  Hebrew  Bible  and  Shakespeare  there  exist  some  interesting 
and  instructive  points  of  resemblance,  especially  in  respect  of  their  ways  of 
life  and  character.  No  doubt  certain  inevitable  differences  also  exist 
between  them,  but  these  do  not  hide  the  reseml)lance ;  rather  they  serve 
to  set  it,  so  to  speak,  in  bolder  relief. 

The  author  in  this  volume  treats  of  this  striking  resemblance,  under 
certain  phases,  between  Hebrew  Prophecy  and  Shakespearian  Drama. 

The  following  are  the  chief  "Studies"  which  find  a  place  in  the 
work  : — Hebrew  Prophecy  and  Shakespeare  :  a  Comparison — Eli  and 
Hamlet — Saul  and  Macbeth — Jonathan  and  Horatio — David  and  Henry  V. 
— Epilogue. 

The  foregoing  list  of  subjects  will  give  some  notion  of  the  drift  and  style 
of  the  book,  which,  it  is  hopeil,  is  a  contribution  towards  a  belter  study  of 
the  Bible  in  connection  with  our  literature  and  moral  experience. 

The  following  short  extracts  are  selected  from  a  large  number  of  reviews  of 
Mr.  Bell's  book  : — 

"  One  of  the  most  suggestive  volumes  we  have  met  with  for  a  long  time." 
— Birmingham  Daily  Gazette. 

"  An  interesting  book." — North  British  Daily  Mail. 


"  Mr.  Bell  shows  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  both  the  Bible  and  the 
works  of  the  great  dramatist ;  his  analytical  and  critical  powers  are 
exceptionally  acute ;  and  in  the  beauty  of  its  literary  style  as  well  as  in 
the  richness  and  suggestiveness  of  its  thought  the  work  will  commend  itself 
to  every  thoughtful  reader.  The  book  is  very  nicely  printed,  and  quite 
aesthetic  in  the  green  and  gold  of  its  garb." — Kihnaritock  Standard. 

"  A  deeply  interesting  book."— T'A*?  Methodist  Times. 

"  A  highly  interesting  and  ingenious  work." — British  H'eekly. 

"  Both  Biblical  and  Shakespearian  students  will  find  matter  in  the  work 
to  interest  them. " — Publishers^  Circular. 

Second  and  cheaper  edition.     Crown  8vo.     Price  is. 

The  Studies  of  a  Socialist  Parson. 

By  the  Rev.  W.   II.  ABRAHAM,  M.A.  (London). 

Thk  volume  consists  of  sermons  and  addresses,  given  mostly  at  the  St. 
Augustine's  Church,  Mull.  The  author  in  his  preface  says,  "  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  clergyman  to  try  and  understand  what  Socialism  is,  and  to  lead 
men  from  the  false  Socialism  to  the  true." 

Contents  : — The  Working-man,  Past  and  Present :  A  Historical 
Review — Whither  are  we  going? — National  Righteousness — The  True 
Value  of  Life — Christian  Socialism — ^Jesus  Christ  the  True  Socialist — 
Socialism,  through  Christ  or  without  Him  ? — The  Great  Bread  Puzzle — 
Labour  Day,  May  i,  1892 — The  People,  the  Rulers,  and  the  Priests — 
Friendly  Societies — Trades'  Unions — The  People's  Church — On  some 
Social  Questions — The  Greatest  Help  to  the  true  Social  Life — The  Great  I 
Am — God  as  a  Present  Force — Signs  of  the  Times. 

The  following  are  selected  from  a  large  number  of  favourable  notices  : — 

"  The  volume  is  deserving  of  all  praise." — Glasgow  Herald. 

"  An  admirable  contribution  to  the  solution  of  difficult  problems.  Mr. 
Abraham  has  much  that  is  valuable  to  say,  and  says  it  well." — Spectator. 

"  Eminently  readable." — Northern  Daily  News. 

"  The  book  is  nicely  printed  and  got  up." — Eastern  Mornins;  News. 

"  The  book  is  as  a  whole  sensitive  and  suggestive.  The  timely  words 
on  '  Decency  in  Journalism  and  Conversation  deserve  to  be  widely  read." 
— London  Quarterly  Review. 

"Mr.  Abraham's  'Studies'  begin  with  a  very  vivid  sketch  of  English 
history  from  the  workman's  point  of  view,  and  are  made  up,  for  the  rest,  of 
sermons  and  addresses  on  various  Socialist  texts  and  social  subjects. 
Their  value  lies  in  the  thoroughness  and  bluntness,  for  Mr.  Abraham  (who 
writes  as  if  he  were  chatting  over  the  fire)  knows  exactly  what  he  is  about, 
and  has  the  knack  of  making  the  reader  know  what  he  means  :  his  words 
are  so  obviously  the  expression  of  an  honest  man's  opinion,  formed  not  on 
the  reading  of  books  only,  but  on  a  very  practical  experience  as  well,  that 
they  will  do  much  to  remove  the  spirit  of  hesitancy  and  compromise  which 
still  disfigures  the  work  of  the  clergy." — Daily  Chronicle. 

Crown  8vo.,  140  pp.  ;  Fancy  Cover,  is.  ;  cloth  bound,  2s. 

Stepping  Stones  to  Socialism. 

By  DAVID  MAXWELL,  c.E. 

Contents  : — In  a  reasonable  and  able  manner  Mr.  Maxwell  deals  with 
the  following  topics  : — The  Popular  meaning  of  the  Word  Socialism — Lord 
Salisbury  on  Socialism — Why  There  is  in  Many  Minds  an  Antipathy  to 


Socialism— On  Some  Socialistic  Views  of  Marriage — The  Question  of  Private 
Property — The  Old  Political  Economy  is  not  the  Way  of  Salvation — Who 
is  My  Neighbour? — Progress,  and  the  Condition  of  the  Labourer — Good 
and  Bad  Trade  :  Precarious  Employment — All  Popular  Movements  are 
Helping  on  Socialism — Modern  Literature  in  Relation  to  Social  Progress — 
Pruning  the  Old  Theological  Tree — The  Churches :  Their  Socialistic 
Tendencies— The  Future  of  Earth  in  Relation  to  Human  Life — Socialism 
is  Based  on  Natural  Laws  of  Life — -Humanity  in  the  Future — Preludes  to 
Socialism — Forecasts  of  the  Ultimate  Form  of  Society — A  Pisgah-top  View 
of  the  Promised  Land. 

The  following  are  selected  from  a  large  number  of  favourable  notices  : 

"  The  author  has  evidently  reflected  deeply  on  the  subject  of  Socialism, 
and  his  views  are  broad,  equitable,  and  quite  up  to  date.  In  a  score  or  so 
of  chapters  he  discusses  Socialism  from  manifold  points  of  view,  and  in  its 
manifold  aspects.  Mr.  Maxwell  is  not  a  fanatic  ;  his  book  is  not  dull,  and 
his  style  is  not  amateurish." — Hull  Daily  Mail. 

"  There  is  a  good  deal  of  charm  about  Mr.  Maxwell's  style." — Northern 
Daily  News. 

"  The  book  is  well  worthy  of  perusal." — Hull  News. 

"  The  reader  who  desires  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  a  subject  that 
is  often  under  discussion  at  the  present  day,  will  derive  much  interest  from 
a  perusal  of  this  little  work.  Whether  it  exactly  expresses  the  views  of  the 
various  socialists  themselves  is  another  matter,  but  inasmuch  as  these  can 
seldom  agree  even  among  themselves,  the  objection  is  scarcely  so  serious  as 
might  otherwise  be  thought." — Publishers^  Circular. 

"  A  temperate  and  reverent  study  of  a  great  question." — London 
Quarterly  Review. 

'•  Mr.  David  Maxwell's  book  is  the  timely  expression  of  a  richly-furnished 
mind  on  the  current  problems  of  home  politics  and  social  ethics." — Eastern 
Morning  News. 

Bound  in  cloth  gilt,  demy  8vo.,  price  7s.   6d.     Only  500  copies  printed, 
and  each  copy  numbered. 

The  Monumental  Brasses  of  Lancashire 
and  Cheshire. 

with  some  Account  of  the  Persons  Represented. 

Illustrated   with    Engravings  from    Drawings    by    the    Author. 
By  JAMES  L.  THORNELY. 

"  Mr.  Thornely's  book  will  be  eagerly  sought  by  all  lovers  of  monumental 
brasses." — London  Quarterly  Review. 

"Local  archaeologists  will  give  a  hearty  welcome  to  this  book." — 
Manchester  Guardian. 

"  Mr.  Thornely  has  produced  a  very  interesting  volume,  as  he  has  not 
only  figured  every  monumental  brass  within  the  two  counties  to  which  he 
has  confined  his  researches,  but  in  every  case  he  has  given  a  description 
also,  and  in  some  instances  the  genealogical  information  is  of  a  high  order 
of  value." — 7'he  7 ablet. . 

"  A  well  got-upand  profusely-illustrated  volume." — Manchester  Examiner 
and  Times, 


"This  book  is  wonderfully  readable  for  its  kind,  and  is  evidently  the 
result  of  careful  and  painstaking  labour.  The  chapters  are  well  condensed, 
nowhere  burdened  with  verbiage,  yet  sufficiently  full  to  serve  the  purpose 
in  view.  The  illustrations  of  the  various  brasses  are  exceedingly  well  done, 
and  add  much  value  and  interest  to  the  work,  which  should  become  popular 
in  Lancashire  and  Cheshire." — W^arrington  Guardian. 

Price  6s.     Demy  8vo.     Elegantly  bound,  cloth  gilt. 

A  Month  in  a  Dandi : 

A    Woman's    Wanderings    in    Northern    India. 
By  CHRISTINA  S.  BREMNER. 

Contents  : — The  Ascent  from  the  Plains  to  the  Hills — Kasauli  and  its 
Amusements — Theories  on  Heat — Simla,  the  Queen  of  the  Hill  Stations — 
Starting  Alone  for  the  Interior — In  Bussahir  Slate— The  Religious  Festival 
at  Pangay — On  Congress — On  the  Growing  Poverty  of  India. 

"The  author  of  a  '  Month  in  a  Dandi'  has  a  facile  pen,  and  is  evidently 
a  shrewd  observer..  Her  book  differs  from  many  belonging  to  the  same 
class  by  reason  of  its  freshness,  its  spontaneity,  and  its  abundance  of 
interesting  detail.  Moreover,  the  book  is  written  with  a  purpose.  '  If  by 
perusing  these  pages  the  reader  obtains  a  clearer  view  of  England's  attitude 
to  her  great  dependency,  if  his  prepossessions  against  'black  men  '  and  the 
'  poor  heathen '  should  melt  away  in  any  degree,  if  the  assumption  that  what 
is  good  for  England  must  necessarily  he  so  for  India  receives  a  slight  shake, 
the  writer  will  feel  rewarded.'  To  these  conclusions  one  is  almost  certain 
to  come  when  the  experiences  of  Miss  Bremner's  '  Month  in  a  Uandi '  are 
recalled.  There  would  be  no  end  to  our  quotations  were  we  to  reproduce 
all  the  passages  we  have  marked  as  being  interesting.  Miss  Bremner  is 
always  in  good  spirits,  and  writes  with  ease,  and  evidently  con  amore^ — 
Birmingham  Daily  Gazette. 

"  Miss  Bremner's  book  describes  a  woman's  wanderings  in  Northern 
India,  and  it  is  written  from  adequate  knowledge,  with  shrewd  discernment, 
and  a  pleasing  amount  of  vivacity.'' — Speaker. 

Andrews'  Library  of  Popular  Fiction. 

Elegantly  bound  in  cloth  gilt,  crown  8vo.,  340  pp.,  4/4  nett. 

No.  I. — Children  of  Chance. 

By  HERBERT  LLOYD. 

"  Mr.  Lloyd  has  redeemed  his  story  by  sprightly  incident  and  some 
admirable  character  sketches.  Madge,  whom  the  hero  eventually  marries, 
is  a  charming  creation,  and  yet  '  not  too  light  and  good  for  human  nature's 
daily  food.'  Her  sister  and  her  husband,  Tom  Collman,  are  also  a  fine  couple, 
and  Mr.  Lloyd  introduces  us  to  some  very  clever  scenes  at  the  theatre  at 
which  they  perform.  The  hero's  sister,  Gladys,  is  another  favourite,  and 
the  family  to  which  she  is  introduced  consists  of  many  persons  in  whom  the 
reader  is  bound  to  take  an  interest.  Mr.  Lloyfl  works  up  the  climax  in  a 
truly  masterly  manner,  and  the  discovery  of  the  father  of  the  '  children  of 
chance,'  is  ingenious  and  clever.     In  short  we  have  little  but  praise  for  this 


book.  .  .  .  The  reader's  interest  is  aroused  from  the  first  and  is 
sustained  to  the  end.  There  is  pathos  in  the  story  and  there  is  humour, 
and  Mr.  Lloyd  writes  very  gracefully  and  tenderly  where  grace  and 
tenderness  are  needed." — Birmingham  Daily  Gazette. 

"The   story      ...      is   full   of  action  and  movement,    and   is  never 
dull." — The  Scotsman. 


Fancy  Cover,   is. 

Wanted— An  Heiress  •  A  Novel. 

By  EVAN  MAY. 

"It  is  an  entrancing  story,  and  perfectly  wholesome  reading.  In  this 
work,  the  author  of  '  The  Greatest  of  These '  is  at  her  best ;  and  '  Wanted 
an  Heiress'  may  be  pronounced  a  leading  tale  of  the  season." — South 
Yorkshire  Free  Press. 

"  The  story  is  well  told." — Northern  Echo. 

"  It  is  a  bright  book  for  holiday  reading. — Carlisle  Express. 


H 


o 


Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


JAN  27  ^ 

JAN  ?  R  1949 
FEB  2-   m. 


Form  L9-26m-8,'46  (9852)  444 


THE  LIBRARY 
.™..«I.TY  OF  CALIFORNU 


rSVbUb     Bygone  ourvx>y 


DA 

670 

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A     000  988  858     7